Lock and Key
by writereadlive
Summary: In 2001 Magnus is wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit and is sentenced to life in prison. No one believes he is innocent. In 2018, troubled Alec Lightwood QC receives a call for help. In agreeing, he was never to know where the case would take him. Or what family secrets would be revealed. After all, not everything remains under lock and key.
1. 6th July 2000

**A/N-** Hi everyone, here's the new story; I hope you all like it. Rated 'M' mainly for violence.

 **Disclaimer:** The majority of the characters belong to Cassandra Clare. Procedural inaccuracies are all mine.

* * *

From the outside nothing was wrong. It was just an ordinary house on an ordinary street in the middle of an ordinary town. Purple hyacinths lined one side of the pathway leading to the front door, while the other side was lined with yellow carnations. Not a single plant was out of place, each flower aligned within the millimetre. A carefully trimmed hedge surrounded the property, giving it an air of privacy. As PC Lance and her partner stepped out of the police cruiser and opened the perfectly maintained gate leading to the entrance to the house there was no one to be seen on the street. That was understandable; it was 6AM after all.

Looking around, PC Lance thought that the 999 call reporting a domestic disturbance had to have been a mistake. It was all so quiet. The curtains were closed and there was no obvious damage to the front door or windows. When PC Phillips returned he confirmed that no, there was no damage to the back door or any of the other windows on the ground floor of the property. Peering into the little glass panels on the front door, PC Lane could see a stack of magazines placed on a small coffee table and a child's cuddly toy discarded on the floor. Nothing was out of place. Nothing indicated that something was wrong.

But still, they had received an emergency call and their boss would eat them alive if they ignored it and later today had a murder investigation to deal with. So, despite believing that there was absolutely nothing wrong and that she'd soon be apologising profusely to very tired, very annoyed parents, PC Lane rang the doorbell. There was no answer. Which again was understandable; no one would be awake at 6AM if they didn't have to be. So she waited a few minutes and rang the doorbell again. Still, there was no answer. The same happened on the third, fourth and fifth attempts. It was at this point that she began to think that something was seriously wrong.

"I'm beginning to feel uneasy about this Rodger. It's starting to feel a bit too quiet." Looking at her partner, she could tell that he was also concerned about the lack of an answer.

"They could have gone on holiday, Sarah. Maybe that's why they've not answered the door?"

"And left all the curtains shut? No, maybe we should try the door, see if it's unlocked."

"Sarah, we've been on this job for 10 years, when have we ever been lucky enough that the front door was –". He cut himself off as Sarah gripped the door handle and pushed it gently, the door easing open without resistance.

"You were saying?" Sarah gave him a playful wink as she stepped over the threshold, turning her torch on as she heard Rodger close the door behind them. "Sir? Ma'am?", she called. "It's the police; we received a phone call that there may be some kind of trouble."

In the meantime, PC Phillips had searched the rooms downstairs. The living room where a child's mat full of toys still lay on the floor, the kitchen where some plates were left to dry on the sink, and the laundry room were all clear. None of them showed any signs of a disturbance.

"There's nothing down here Sarah, if there's any trouble it must be in one of the bedrooms."

"Right okay, follow me then".

The two officers slowly made their way up the stairs, keeping an eye out for any intruder who may try to rush past them in the hallway. PC Lance was a couple of steps ahead of her partner when she reached what she presumed was the master bedroom. But when she pushed the door open and saw what was waiting for them, she wished she wasn't the one to find it.

"Oh God no", she heard herself whisper as she took a step back from the room, her eyes wide as she turned to face her partner. PC Phillips was shocked when he saw the tears forming in her eyes. They had been partners for 10 years after having received their training at the same centre. In those years he'd seen her face numerous terrors with a steely determination which contrasted with her usual soft and playful character outside of work. She had stood unflinchingly when an armed robber pointed a loaded gun at her; she had remained calm and professional as she held a young man bleeding dangerously from a severe stab wound. Whatever had happened here, Rodger knew, had to have been bad to get her this upset.

"Why don't you go and radio it in, and I'll take a closer look around", he offered, gently pushing her back towards the stairs whilst she nodded slowly, obviously still in shock. He took a moment to compose himself, taking a deep steadying breath and tried to prepare himself for the worst.

But no matter what he tried to imagine, nothing could compare to the sight that was waiting for him.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the still bedroom was the stench; the overwhelming metallic tang of blood. There would be no one alive in here.

Looking around, he could see blood splattered over the bed sheets. Yet nothing seemed out of place. None of their possessions were broken or toppled over, and nothing indicated that there had been a struggle. It clearly was not a murder done for gain. Revenge perhaps?

This last thought was confirmed as he took in the white wall immediately above the head of the bed, the elegant decor ruined by the hastily painted "MINE"; the letters dripping slowly down the walls in a horrendously mesmerising pattern.

Looking closely at the bodies in the bed, he could see that the man's eyes were still shut; a sign that (if only bringing the slightest comfort) meant he wouldn't have seen anything coming. He must have been the first to be killed. The woman was not so lucky. Her eyes were wide open, and that, more than anything he had seen so far horrified PC Phillips. She must have known what was coming, what had happened to her husband (he could see the wedding rings) and what would happen to her.

Yet even more chilling was the fact that the murder was neat. It was no rushed job, no amateur. Everything pointed to a professional job; either someone who had done it before, or someone who had spent a long time planning exactly what they were going to do. If that was the case, PC Phillips thought, the couple never stood a chance.

Reluctantly, he tore his eyes away from the scene on the bed to scan the left hand side of the room. He knew immediately what had upset his partner. There sat a child's cot, and he knew, without having to take the five steps forward that the child would not be alive. He didn't want to see what was waiting for him there, but he couldn't stop himself from moving, one foot slowly being placed in front of the other until he was stood at the edge of the furniture and peering down into the lifeless body of the little boy.

Looking around the room one last time before heading back down to check on his partner, he couldn't help but wonder how sick, how evil someone had to be to do that. The child had done nothing, could say nothing. There was no need to kill him too. There was no justification for that act, and he promised himself that he would not stop until that sick bastard faced the life behind bars that they deserved.


	2. 1st August 2018

**A/N-** The plot thickens...

 **Disclaimer:** As always, characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

1st August 2018

17 years, five months and 17 days. That was how long he had been in prison. Not that he was keeping count. Well, he supposed he should probably take off the two weeks he had spent in the local hospital after being in prison for a month. Unsurprisingly news travels fast in an enclosed space, and whatever else you might think about convicts, one thing became abundantly clear to Magnus; even they have a moral code they live by. Being convicted of killing a baby was just one of the things that crossed a line. It didn't matter that he hadn't done it; he still ended up with three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and the very clear message that next time he would be dead.

Magnus shuddered as he thought back to the day he was attacked. He, along with the rest of the prison population, had been let out of his cell to get lunch. He had just sat down at an empty table near the back of the room when he sensed people coming up behind him. A part of him knew it was coming; he had heard people whispering about him for days, had felt the stares every time he left his cell. Because of this, he wasn't all that surprised when someone grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him off of his seat. He wasn't surprised when they started kicking and punching him, not stopping even when it was clear that he could do nothing to defend himself. What he was surprised by was the fact that it took 6 prison guards to pull the three men off of him. But what shocked him the most, was that somehow, he had managed to get out of there alive.

So of the 17 years, five months and 17 days that he had been in prison, 14 days were spent in a hospital hooked up to machines, and the remaining 17 years, four months and three days were spent in this cell, all alone.

 _It's for your own protection_ , the governor had said at the meeting. _It's not safe for you to be in the general prison population, and if we moved you to another prison we can't guarantee that it won't happen again._

So here he is. He draws, he reads, he writes himself essays on important art developments, he gets let out to eat, shower and get more books; always accompanied by a guard, of course. He sees no one; no one comes to visit and he knows the guards only tolerate him because he doesn't cause them any hassle.

Of course he fought to get his conviction overturned, but no one believed him. His appeals were thrown out due to insufficient evidence, and the more he was rejected, the more dejected he became. He fought for five years before he began to feel himself giving up, the hope he had dwindling until the fire that burnt so strongly to begin with was reduced to nothing but struggling flames. There was nothing he could do now but accept what had happened and see if he could earn a release. He doubted it, and the longer he doubted the more he felt himself grow despondent.

It wasn't his fault he couldn't remember what happened.

* * *

7th July 2000

 _Damn, my head hurts_.

It took Magnus a couple of minutes to fully wake up, his eyes protesting at the light that spilled in around the edges of his blind. His mouth felt dry and his head was pounding as if someone was determined to crack it open with a sledge hammer. _Must've been a wild night_ , he thought as he dragged himself off of his bed and into the kitchen to get a glass of water. He was surprised to find himself fully dressed, his shoes aligned neatly by the door to his bedroom. A glance to the kitchen clock showed it was a little after five in the afternoon, and he was surprised to learn he had slept through the entire day.

After he had placed the glass back down, he leant against the kitchen countertop, his head resting in his hands as he tried to remember what happened last night. However, no matter how hard he tried, little information was making itself known, even as he grasped desperately at the brief flashes that appeared before him; Camille, a club, flashing lights and pounding music, and then...nothing. Nothing but a never ending blackness until he wakes up at 5PM with a pounding head and still wearing last night's clothes. He tries to remember, he really does but the effort just makes his head hurt until he's pretty sure he can actually hear the pounding in his head.

He takes one, two, three deep breaths until he realises it's not in his mind and the hammering in his head has been joined by an equally obnoxious and persistent hammering on his door. He doesn't have time to open it before it's crashing forward, splinters of wood flying into his living room whilst several officers surround him. It's only after he has been put in the police car that he registers that he's being arrested.

* * *

8th July 2000

They let him sleep before they started questioning him. Part of him is grateful for the rest; he can finally think a bit more clearly. But he knows it was tactical, after all they can only legally hold him for a limited amount of time. They also have to guarantee him 8 hours of uninterrupted rest. It doesn't take a genius to work out that by starting with the rest they can question him just that little bit longer. It's just a shame that the sleep hasn't helped him to remember.

Check in was difficult. The routine questions were straightforward enough;

 _Your name?_

Magnus Bane

 _Age?_

22

 _Have you taken any drugs?_

No.

His breath test showed high levels of alcohol which sparked more questions;

 _Were you driving last night?_

No I got a taxi to the club.

 _How did you get home?_

I can't remember.

 _Do you know what you've been arrested for?_

No.

The officers that brought him in explained to the custody officer that he had been arrested for murder, and after that he didn't really process what they were saying. The custody officer was asking about the reasonable grounds for arrest, and he was being told what his rights were. He nodded along, _yes I understand_ , but he had no idea what they were saying. He went to sleep that night hoping things would be better in the morning.

They weren't.

"I don't know how else to tell you that I don't remember what happened last night! I went to meet Camille at Pandemonium, we danced for a while and then I woke up in my flat and your officers came to arrest me."

"It's quite convenient that you can't remember isn't it?"

The officers in front of him were stern; they clearly didn't believe what he was saying despite him denying any involvement over and over again. He didn't bother asking for a solicitor; he didn't do it, why should he need one? But the more they questioned him, and the harder their eyes became, the more he regretted that decision.

"Do you think I'm choosing not to remember? When remembering would be the very thing that would help me?"

"Oh no, Mr Bane. I believe that you don't remember, but I think that your subconscious has blocked it out, is trying to convince you that you didn't do it. You loved her, didn't you Magnus? Etta? You met when you were 17, she was 20. You fell in love, thought you would have a lifetime together only for her to leave two years later because she wanted a family you weren't ready for. You know what I think? I think it broke you. I think you held on to that hurt so long it turned to anger, _how dare_ she leave you? So when you found out she had married, had had a child, you decided to get revenge. And now you have, your mind won't let you remember because you're horrified. Horrified that you would kill the one person you really loved."

He was frozen, eyes blown wide and he wanted to open his mouth, to deny everything. It was absurd; yes he loved Etta, yes he was heartbroken that she had left but he couldn't _kill her._ But nothing came out, he sat there in silence as they suspended the interview and he was taken back to his cell.

By the time of the next interview he had decided to hire a solicitor, but it hadn't done much good. They had evidence, they had character witnesses and Camille was denying they had ever met that night. There was no one to speak on his behalf, no CCTV he could rely on because, somehow, the club's system was down that night. And he still couldn't remember.

So he was charged and he was denied bail. The world saw him as a murderer, no matter how many times he protested his innocence.

* * *

15th February 2001

 _Guilty._

It had been a while since the foreman of the jury had announced their verdict, and still the word was bouncing around his mind. It drowned out everything else. They didn't believe him. His friends had refused to communicate with him; he had no one in the gallery supporting him. Even as 'guilty' hurtled through his mind at 100MpH he could still hear the cheers of the public as he was convicted, could faintly hear the judge thanking the jury for their effort.

He was in a daze throughout the time between his conviction and the judge arriving at his sentence, and it was only once he was stood facing the judge about to receive his sentence that he fully regained his senses. Once the judge had finished speaking he wished he hadn't.

"Mr Bane, this is a serious crime you have been convicted of. It is the job of the jury to establish guilt; it is my job to pass your sentence. It is also my job to ensure that you understand the sentence you will receive. Murder carries a mandatory life sentence, and it is my job to establish the minimum term which you will serve in prison.

In determining your minimum term, I am duty-bound to take into account the seriousness of the offence which will be determined by principles laid out for me by the government. Looking at the guidelines before me, I am satisfied that this classifies as the most serious of offences; you have murdered three people and after the witness statements given and explanations of the wounds offered by experts, I am satisfied that there was a substantial degree of premeditation which went into your crime. You were also 22 years of age when the crime was committed. It is because of these factors that I have determined that the starting point will be a whole life order. There are no applicable mitigating factors, and I am convinced that given the swiftness of their deaths, there are also no relevant aggravating factors.

What you have been convicted of is truly a horrendous crime, Mr Bane. You have caused untold amounts of suffering and callously snuffed out lives full of purpose and potential. A whole life order will give you ample time to reflect on what you have done, and will offer reassurances to the general public and to the victims' families that you will never have the opportunity to inflict such suffering again."

He was taken away, sent to a maximum security prison with the whole world believing he was a callous murderer, too dangerous to ever be released. But they were wrong, and no one would listen to him.

* * *

1st August 2018

Magnus sighed as he opened his eyes and stared at the low ceiling. He tried not to think about those two days, but sometimes he just couldn't help it. The newspaper he had been reading lay discarded on the floor, and as he glanced at it a large photo caught his eye. The man on the front was quite handsome, Magnus thought; piercing blue eyes, unruly black hair and a sharp jaw line. Not to mention the smart suit he was wearing.

He reluctantly turned his eyes away from the photo towards the text, and as he continued to read, he found the fire of hope that he thought had long since died start to rekindle. The man's name was the first thing that jumped out at Magnus; 'ALEC LIGHTWOOD', written in bold font. Magnus knew the name, he may be in prison but he did try to keep up with what was happening in the world. Mr Lightwood was well known for accepting cases other barristers deemed too difficult or too bad for publicity. He had a reputation amongst the inmates as being driven by justice, not money. His popularity was also bolstered by his success rate; off all the defence barristers available he was most likely to secure your freedom in your initial trial. He also had a 90% success rate when it came to appeals. He'd worked on some of the biggest cases of the last decade and revealed almost a dozen cases of miscarriages of justice. Magnus had long thought that if anyone would believe him, it would be Alec Lightwood. However, the little hope he carried had always been snuffed out by the disbelief of others, and he could never bring himself to contact him.

This article once again detailed how he had recently secured the release of two prisoners jailed for a murder they clearly had no part in, but were unfortunate enough to be in the area when it occurred. Magnus liked to think that he could read people fairly well, and in looking at the photo of the man, he was convinced of his integrity. He looked into the depths of his bright blue eyes and saw a man who, perhaps, might be willing to fight for his freedom.

Before he had a chance to second guess himself, Magnus found himself sat at the desk in his room, a piece of paper in front of him and a blue biro in hand. He started writing almost immediately, and once he started he found that he couldn't stop, not until his story was told and his plea complete. It was only once he had written the letter and received an envelope from the prison guard that he realised he had no idea where he was supposed to send the letter. That is, until he saw the caption the newspaper had given the photo; detailing his chambers and its address.

Once the letter was given to the prison guard with the assurance that it would be put in tonight's post, Magnus resettled himself on his bed and tried not to worry about what was going to happen next. The guards might not send the letter. The letter might get lost in the post. He might refuse to help. There were so many things that could go wrong, but Magnus tried not to dwell on them, it wouldn't help. After all, for the first time in years he finally had hope again, and if it turned out to be futile, he wasn't too sure where he would go from there.


	3. 4th August 2018

**A/N-** Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. For clarity, the characters' present day ages are:

Magnus- 40

Alec - 38

Jace and Izzy- 36.

Robert - 56

The next time a character's age is mentioned at the top of a chapter is if it's a flashback (or they're a new character about to become important).

 **Disclaimer:** Characters still belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

4th August 2018

By the time he had returned to his chambers, Alec was exhausted. As much as he did like to spend time with his parents, their monthly lunches always left him with a headache and a desire to sleep the rest of the day away. Unfortunately for him, there had been a new development in the law regarding theft and he had to spend the little time he wasn't working with clients ensuring that he was up to date with the recent ruling. It was precisely this attitude which had allowed him to climb the ranks so quickly, making him a QC at just 38.

His success was actually part of the reason that lunch with his parents was so difficult. Don't get him wrong, he was happy that his parents were proud and wanted to know all about his work, it was just tiring constantly having to tell them that no, he wouldn't swap out of criminal law and move into property law just because the money was better. He wasn't in it for the money, and he thought that his parents should have realised that by now. He had told them enough times. He knew they only did it because they loved him, but it was tiring to constantly have to justify his life decisions to his parents.

" _Think about it",_ his father would say. _"Work 10, 20 years in property, earn enough money to set yourself up for life, and then move to a job where you don't have to constantly overwork yourself. I don't want you to have to work as much as I do; I want you to be able to take time for you"._

What his father failed to mention was that he was miserable in his job. Alec didn't want to be stuck like that; he'd rather have less money and work at something he loved. He never mentioned this to his father though. The only time his father mentioned his life before his children were old enough to really know him was to tell them how he dropped out of school too early and he didn't want them to make the same mistakes he did. They should value their education and work hard to get the best qualifications they could; he wanted better for them. And because he did it out of love, because he didn't fully understand how exhausting having to defend his career choice was, Alec never argued with him about it. He simply pointed out that he made more than enough money to live by, and that was good enough for him. Maybe it was constantly constraining his opinions that created the headaches his parents left him with.

However, the headache could easily come from trying to work his father out. Robert Lightwood is 56; he's the manager at a local DIY store and stopped putting the right effort into his work aged 14. He likes watching football but hates the tennis, he reads comedic books but won't go anywhere near crime novels. He always looks at new people too suspiciously. These are the sort of things Alec knows about his father, but it often leaves him wondering if he really _knows_ his father. He never mentions his parents, how he met Mum, where he grew up or who his friends were. He even stopped mentioning his brother. Alec loved his father, he really did, but every time they had lunch he always left feeling like there was so much more that they could know about each other. And that hurt; almost as much as the headache.

Alec fights down his exhaustion as he trudges up the five steps leading to the front door, placing his key card on the scanner and waiting for the door to unlock. He always liked the reception of his chambers; the bright red and orange of the furniture always made him feel comfortable as he stepped in. It helped, he supposed, that the 15 years he had spent at the chambers allowed him to build up a good friendship with the receptionist.

"Hey Lightwood", she called out to him.

"Hello Helen", Alec replied as he walked over to the desk, placing his briefcase on the floor next to his feet.

"How was lunch with the parents?"

"The usual: why don't I move into an area of law where I'd get more money, why don't I go to a more popular chamber, why don't I try and get a boyfriend? I swear it's a police interrogation every time I see them." Even Alec could hear how exasperated his response was, so he wasn't surprised that Helen laughed at him a little.

"I'm sure they were proud of you though. Taking silk at 38 is pretty young, not many people could do it".

Alec felt the heat rising to his cheeks. "Thanks Helen. Yes, they were happy; I'm pretty sure Dad's entire store knows about it now. How's it been here? Not too busy I hope."

Helen shrugged in response. "Not too bad. I have a steady stream of e-mails to get through and had to deal with a couple of phone calls, but overall it's been fairly quiet. Oh, yes! I almost forgot; this came for you today. Not entirely sure what it is, but since it came here it's probably a letter asking for help. It might be your first case as a QC; you can put the increased fees to good use".

Alec turned the letter over in his hands before looking up to give Helen an unimpressed look. "Helen you know I don't care..."

"About money, it's all about doing what's right. Yes I am well aware of that Alec. But think about it. I've seen you work your ass off to get your salary up from under £20,000 to triple that; but that took you 15 years, and let's face it your father's right, in another area of law it might have only taken you 5. But now you're a QC your wages will go up, you'll definitely cross £100,000 soon enough. More money means you don't have to focus solely on your mortgage which means that you, Mr Justice, can do more cases pro bono."

"You're right there Helen. I just don't want people to think I'm chasing the large pay-slip, you know?"

"Screw everyone else, Alec. Everyone who knows you saw the years you spent barely covering your food and rent and still trying to fit in as much pro bono as you could. Your belief in justice shines through your work and I can 100% guarantee that's why you get the high profile cases and how you managed to become a QC in just 15 years. What does it matter, if you end up earning close to £1 million? You'll never forget the years you spent wondering how the hell you were supposed to afford living in London, and I know you'll give a lot of it to legal aid charities anyway. Forget anyone who tries to criticise your work. Okay?"

"Okay", Alec replied with a small smile, surprised at the ferocity with which Helen spoke. "I better run and see what this is about. See you later Helen, say hello to Aline for me".

"Will do Lightwood; now off you go".

Alec shook his head as he rounded the corner and climbed up two flights of stairs. He always thought he had managed to get himself the best room in the building; it was one of the largest (with plenty of room for his books) with a fantastic view of the surrounding gardens. The room was also beautifully decorated. He had a working desk large enough for when he had to browse multiple books and folders at the same time matched with a comfortable desk chair. Near the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf were two large, burnt-orange armchairs and an ottoman for when he just wanted to research. After several months in the room, he also decided it would be a good idea to get a small dining table and chair for when he didn't have time to eat out; the idea came after he had spilt his soup over important documents and created several hours worth of extra work. Alec loved his room, had spent so many hours cooped up in it that it felt more like home than his own house did.

Once he had unlocked his door (he still wasn't used to seeing 'QC' printed after his name) and hung his coat on the coat rack, he settled into the oversized armchair that overlooked the garden. He took a minute to appreciate the handwriting on the front; it was far neater than his and was full of elegant loops. He was careful as he tore open the envelope and unfolded the letter. To say he was shocked by the content would be an understatement.

 _Dear Mr Lightwood,_

 _I hope this letter finds you well, but since I am sure you must receive plenty of them I will get straight to the point. My name is Magnus Bane, I am 40 years old and I have spent the last 17 years of my life in a maximum security prison for a crime I did not commit. I am willing to bet that you probably heard about it at the time, but I will assume you are unfamiliar with the crime I have been detained for._

 _When I was 17 I fell in love, only for her to leave two years later. Eventually she married and had a child of her own. They claimed that I was angry, that I wanted revenge so snuck into their house and murdered them all as they slept. I am not a monster, Mr Lightwood. I loved Etta more than anything; I could never and would never have killed her. I could never hurt a child. But they somehow got the evidence and the character witnesses to convict me, and well, here I am._

 _So why do I write to you now, after 17 years? The easy answer is no one believed me; I was not given permission to appeal, my friends no longer speak to me and I have no living relatives. I have had no one who could fight for me, and for a long time I had given up._

 _But over the years, I have heard your name over, and over, and over again. You have helped people who were turned away and spurned by everyone else. You have exposed more miscarriages of justice than any other barrister I have heard of. I saw the photograph they published of you in the newspaper the other day, and your eyes showed an integrity the likes of which is very hard to come by. I just knew that if anyone would be willing to help me, it would be you._

 _So I am writing to you to ask, no beg, that you help me. I understand if you decide not to, but I beseech you to come and talk to me first. Let me explain everything to you. Because I am innocent, no matter what anyone else may say._

 _I do not have any money to give to you, but I pray that you will be able to help me. We are allowed visitors on Sunday; I hope I will see you then._

 _You are my last hope._

 _Kindest regards,_

 _Magnus Bane._

Alec blinked as he leant back into the armchair, his mind trying to process the information he had just received.

Magnus Bane. _The_ Magnus Bane. Alec did not need Magnus to tell him what he had been convicted of, he was already well aware. Alec had been 20 when news of the crime had spread across the country, and although he was only in his second year of his law degree, he was certain of the fact that he wanted to be a criminal barrister. Naturally, he followed Magnus' case with a keen eye. It was horrendous. As a law student, he had access to the case; the arguments of the barristers and the judgement that was given. It meant that he had read, in gruesome detail, exactly what had happened to the victims. He remembered thinking at the time that whoever did it deserved a very long punishment.

Alec was sure he still had a printed copy of the case in his room somewhere. It took him a while to dig through the boxes of historic cases (he really had to organise them at some point) before he managed to unearth it. Flicking through it, he remembered thinking (as a student) that they had quite a lot of evidence to convict him with; blood on his clothes, the knife in his house, witnesses saying he promised revenge. Though now, with 15 years of experience as a defence barrister, he suddenly noticed how strange it was that there were no witnesses offered by the defence barrister. In fact, the only thing the defence barrister seemed to say was that his client had gone to meet his girlfriend Camille, a fact strongly denied by Camille, but that he couldn't remember anything else that happened. As far as defences went, it wasn't the best one to have.

The more he thought about it, the more Alec began to think that the defence's case was alarmingly poor; almost suspiciously so. But he didn't have enough information to pass judgement and he knew that Magnus was right; he should at least hear what the other man had to tell him before he turned him down.

But part of him was reluctant. He had dealt with high profile cases before, but this would be notoriously so. There was the possibility that the bad publicity could ruin his career, everything he had fought to build. There was also the problem that if the Court of Appeal rejected his application, then there was no available evidence strong enough to challenge the conviction. He'd have to start again, go right to the beginning of the case and pick it apart until he could find something that went wrong. And if he did all that and there was nothing, that Magnus had lied to him? His activities wouldn't go unnoticed and wouldn't be appreciated. He wasn't entirely sure it was worth the risk.

As Alec thought that, he couldn't stop the painful memories that came unbidden into his mind; memories that he had spent years trying to forget.

" _There's nothing you can do for me Alec". He spoke with a sad smile; a smile that didn't reach his dull eyes._

" _But Uncle Benedict..."_

" _No Alec. There's no one who can fight for me now. But you can fight for others, remember that"._

Alec had fought; taking risks that others wouldn't was why he became a barrister. Sure he turned people down, he's not blind, he can see when he's being lied to; but he at least gave them a chance first. He could at least do that.

He sat for hours deciding whether he should go and see Magnus, the development to the law on theft completely forgotten. It was nearly 6PM when he had finally decided what he was going to do. He opened his laptop to finalise the last of his plan before placing it back in his briefcase and heading back home, stopping at the reception before he did.

"Helen, I have business to attend to tomorrow and I expect to be gone the whole day. I have placed an out of office notification on my emails, and if the matter is urgent they have been instructed to leave a message with you. If you think it really **is** urgent, feel free to call me."

"Of course. Does this have something to do with that mysterious letter?"

"Maybe", Alec replied. "You know I can't really give you sensitive information, right?"

"You are such a kill joy".

"Goodnight Helen", Alec replied with a small smile.

"Night Alec".

Alec was silent as he hopped on the tube, his mind wandering as he was forced against far too many people. He distantly recalled mumbling out apologies as he fought his way back off the train, but apart from that the journey home was completely forgotten.

It was nearly 7:30 by the time Alec reached his small, two bedroom house (his sister liked to stop by for a couple of days) and he was almost sleeping where he was standing. He made himself a quick sandwich and ate watching the TV as he tried to relax, not really succeeding until he had a hot bath. It was then, whilst he was staring at the pale blue tiles, that the reality of the situation really dawned on him.

 _Holy shit._

He was going to see Magnus Bane. Magnus Bane, the convicted murderer. Accused of being involved in one of the most heartless crimes Alec had ever read about. Was he crazy? Alec was beginning to think he was insane. In fact, he was 90% sure that this was not the best idea.

 _But it never stopped you before_ , a treacherous part of his mind whispered, and damn it, it was right. Good idea or not, he always gave people a chance to explain themselves. That's what justice is. Even convicted murderers should have access to justice, and Alec knew better than anyone the painful reality of people being convicted of murders they had nothing to do with.

 _You're going to that damn prison Lightwood._

He really hoped Magnus wasn't lying to him.


	4. 5th August 2018

**A/N** \- They finally meet...

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly the characters still belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

5th August 2018

Alec watched the other visitors as he stood in line in front of the security officers. It was easy to see who had been here before and who had turned up for their first visit. The regulars often seemed unbothered by the searches, hardly seemed to blink as their pockets were emptied and a small flashlight was shined into their mouths. The new guests never seemed completely at ease, always walking away a little too quickly once they were cleared to enter. The searches didn't bother Alec anymore; he had had to go through them so many times in his career that it was just mechanical for him now; enter the building, head towards the check in, state his reason for being here, go to the security desk, place his briefcase on the conveyer belt and empty his pockets, allow the prison guard to pat him down and open his mouth. To be honest, he never really thought about what was going on; instead he was more concerned about the conversation that he was about to have.

He was certain that by the end of his visit he would know whether Mr Bane was telling him the truth. He'd asked the prison governor to arrange a private room for them to meet in away from the other guests; partly because of confidentiality and he didn't want someone overhearing sensitive information, but also because he really didn't want anyone to know about this meeting until he was sure that there was something to Magnus' claims. He really didn't want to have to deal with a media shit-storm until a miscarriage of justice was at stake.

Once he arrived outside of their designated meeting room he dragged himself out of his thoughts and forced himself to focus. He was there to do a job and he could only do so if he threw himself into it 100%. He took a second to compose himself, nodding to the guard outside the door as he opened the heavy slab of metal and closed it securely behind him. Sat at one side of a small table in the middle of the room was Magnus Bane, surprise clearly evident in his bright green eyes.

Alec took a minute to observe him. He was thin (Alec presumed he was naturally so, although probably further emphasised by the prison diet) but not dangerously so. He could tell that while he was not overly muscled, his muscles were at least in good condition. His black hair was kept long, just brushing his shoulders and was threaded through with strands of grey; more than he should have at his age. But what struck Alec the most were his eyes; not just for how bright the colour was, but also for how dull they were. Dull, almost to the point of lifelessness. He hadn't seen eyes like that in a long time.

" _There's nothing you can do for me Alec"._

Alec cleared his throat as he stepped towards the table. "Mr Bane", he called out in greeting as he offered a handshake.

"Mr Lightwood". Magnus' grip was firm as the two shook hands. "I am so grateful that you decided to come."

"Honestly, I almost didn't."

Alec was ashamed to admit it out loud, but he had long believed that if he expected his clients to be completely honest with him, he should be completely honest with them. "But you were right; I should at least hear what you have to say. I can't exactly say I seek justice if I turn you down without giving you a chance."

"Nonetheless, I am grateful all the same."

Alec watched as Mr Bane gave him a small smile, watched how the dullness in his eyes disappeared for just a fraction of a second. When it did, Alec was struck with just how attractive the other man really was.

 _Now is really not the time for this Lightwood, pull yourself together._

"So", Alec began, drawing the word out a little as he pulled various documents out of the briefcase and forced himself to focus on the task at hand and not the man in front of him. "Tell me a bit about yourself Mr Bane."

"Magnus please; Mr Bane is too formal and only ever seems to be used when someone's putting me in a jail cell. I don't know what to tell you; I told you how long I've been here and what they've accused me of."

"No, no Mr B- Magnus", Alec hastily interjected. "You were right in your assumption; I am more than familiar with your case. I want to know a bit about **you** , before all this started".

Alec saw the surprise on Magnus' face, but the other man decided not to say anything. "Well, in that case Mr Lightwood..."

"Alec, please", he couldn't help interjecting with a disgruntled look. "My father's Mr Lightwood. It's weird"

"Alec", Magnus acknowledged with a nod of his head. "I've loved art all my life. I studied history of art at Oxford before moving to Cambridge to do further studies in the history of art and architecture. I always wanted to work with priceless pieces, work that needed protecting and work that had already been stolen and should have been returned. That kind of bit me in the ass, in the end."

"How so?"

"I think it's what made Camille (she was my girlfriend at the time) hate me. Art is incredibly important to me and when I found out that her father was willingly dealing with forgeries and culturally important items that had been stolen, well I told the police. To cut a long story short, her father lost everything he had, she lost the glamorous life she was used to and I guess she blamed me for all of it."

Alec felt his eyebrows rise; this had just gotten _very_ interesting. Alec's first rule of practice was always that the case against your client probably started far earlier than the individual offence. It was because of this that he always believed it crucial to know your client beyond the perimeter of the alleged crime. And this, this was a prime example of why this was important.

"I assume this is the same Camille you claimed to have met the same night Etta and her family died?"

"Yes, only she denied everything."

"Did the club- Pandemonium I think- have any CCTV cameras?"

"It had two; one at the front door and another in the main dance area."

Alec was confused, if Magnus said he was there, surely the whole case would have easily been solved by what the CCTV footage revealed. "And did anyone use the footage in constructing their case?"

Magnus let out a humourless laugh. "Isn't it just my luck that the owner claimed it wasn't working that night; which is why they had no film. What a coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidence Magnus. Why don't you tell me everything that happened that night?"

"I can't remember most of it", Magnus groaned in frustration. "Do you have any idea how many times I wished I could? It would save me so much trouble."

"Okay", Alec replied sympathetically. "Just tell me everything you can remember. I need to know this so I know where to start looking through things."

"So you believe me?" The hope in his voice was almost painful.

"Not quite yet". Alec hated the way the hope in his eyes died a little, but honesty was the best way to go. "But more than I did last night, bearing in mind I have close to no information to go on."

Magnus nodded his head as if he understood. "That makes sense I guess. Well," he paused as he thought, his eyebrows drawing together as he stared at the table. "I was walking back from the local coffee shop and bumped into Camille on the road next to mine. Bear in mind I had no idea that she hated me at that point; or that she even knew it was me who reported her father. So when she asked if I wanted to go out with her that night I agreed".

Alec had to hand it to this Camille; she clearly knew what she was doing if she was asking him face to face; no phones means nothing for Magnus to use in a defence.

"Did anyone see the two of you have this conversation?"

"No", Magnus answered sadly. "I lived in a quiet part of London at that time. She wanted to meet at the club at 2, I took a cab but since I didn't book it and paid in cash, there was no proof I went there. I got there about 2AM, she arrived not long after. We spent the time drinking and dancing, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up in my bed, fully dressed."

"In your life, how many times would you say you got back home completely drunk? Let's say, to the point of not being able to walk or talk properly?"

"Please Alec, I was a student; probably at least two dozen."

"And of those, how many times did you forget what happened, or wake up completely dressed?"

"None. I always took my clothes off because I refused to go to bed wearing makeup, and I guess doing one always reminded me to do the other."

Alec paused as he digested the information he was given, strands of possible arguments beginning to float through his mind as he tried to piece everything together.

"They arrested you the evening of the murder, correct?"

"Yes; I must say it was quite difficult for my inebriated mind to understand what was happening."

"They checked your alcohol levels?"

"One of the first things they did".

"Did they do a drugs test on you?"

"No. They asked me if I had taken anything, which I hadn't, and then once the questions were done I was taken to a cell and they let me sleep for 8 hours before they started questioning me."

"And when they questioned you, you mentioned that you couldn't remember anything?"

"Of course," Magnus replied confusedly, straightening in his seat as he more closely followed what Alec was saying.

"Did they bother asking you if that was usual behaviour for you?"

"No".

Magnus grew surer of himself as he answered, almost as if he could see where Alec's line of questioning was going. For his part, Alec was beginning to grow uncomfortable; these were basic mistakes that were being made, and Alec was not too happy that no one had looked into it before.

"They should have done that Magnus, they should have done a blood test. Many of the drugs commonly used to spike drinks stay in the system for 72 hours, and the officers should have known that. Given the fact that some of these drugs are known to cause memory loss, it should have been one of the first things they did once you said you couldn't remember."

Alec could hear that he was getting excited, but he couldn't help himself. For him, there was nothing better than seeing the beginning of an argument form before your very eyes. Of course, it always broke his heart knowing how much innocent people had to suffer because of other people's mistakes, but knowing he was the reason people paid for those mistakes was one of the reasons he does his job. His happiness was short lived, however when he saw the panic that began to show on Magus' face; perhaps he should've been more careful in the way he phrased things. He had a fairly good idea of what Magnus might have started to worry about.

"Whoa, Magnus calm down. Those drugs can be used for things other than sexual assault, okay? Finding traces of it in your blood, doesn't necessarily mean that anyone attacked you like that. It could (and I can't prove it was so this is purely speculative) have just been used to get you to the state where you wouldn't remember the night, precisely so it could be made to look like you had done it. Did you speak to anyone else at the bar that night?"

"Um... only the owner; Malachi, I think his name was, not too sure about his surname. But he denied it, just as Camille did. Two against one, and well, here I am". His voice had developed a bitter edge at the end of his speech.

"Okay", Alec started, nodding as he tried to order his thoughts. "I think I have enough information for now. Tomorrow, I'll go to speak to Terry Johnson, see what he can remember from when he represented you originally. Then I'll see where I have to go from there, though from what you were saying, I think the club is probably our best bet".

"So you are going to help me?"

" _No Alec. There's no one who can fight for me now."_

Alec pushed past the memory. "Yes, from what you've told me it seems like something went very wrong with the original investigation. At the moment, we at least have the possibility of them failing to follow every line of inquiry. It's something I can work on."

"You believe me". Magnus didn't even bother trying to halt the tears that gathered in his eyes and fell slowly down his cheeks as he stared at the other man across from him.

"I do".

"Why?"

 _A sad smile_.

"I think there's more to what happened than originally came to light. Someone somewhere didn't do their job properly and I intend to find out who". The conviction in his voice startled even Alec.

"Thank you".

" _You can fight for others_."

"Don't thank me. Not yet. It's going to be difficult; many of the avenues that would have been available to us are closed now. I can't guarantee I can get anything done, and if I do, we're going to have to bring in other people. I've got a feeling that this is going to take time Magnus. I don't know if you were expecting a quick release, but I can't give you that."

"Alec I have been here for 17 years, do you think I care if it takes you a month? Or a year? Hell, it could take you a decade and that would be better than what I'm currently facing. I don't care how long it takes. I think the better question is whether you are still willing to take on my case knowing that I can't afford to pay you anything."

"I have done pro-bono work before Magnus; I'm perfectly content to do it now".

There was a slight pause, and Alec was surprised when Magnus started fidgeting with his hands, as if he was nervous. "I just feel bad."

Alec was not expecting that response. "Why?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders slightly. "It's your first case as a QC, you could be earning so much money in the time you would be helping me. I know you need to live and that contrary to popular opinion, life as a criminal barrister is not that glamorous to begin with".

"Yes Magnus, to begin with". Alec felt bad when he saw Magnus flinch at his harsh tone, but damn it, he was not in this job for the money. "I've been a defence barrister for 15 years, I've been earning close to £70,000 for the last 5 years of that. And yes you're right, my income has just steeply risen, but as a friend of mine rightly reminded me yesterday, more wages means more pro-bono. Besides, if we succeed in this, the amount of publicity your case will get me will more than pay for my services, trust me. I just need you to know I'm not in this job for the money".

"Oh that, I figured out", Magnus interrupted. "I told you I saw integrity in that photograph of you, and I stand by that now I have met you in person. You truly care, Alec Lightwood, and I am honoured that you have agreed to help me. Please don't berate yourself if you can't get anywhere; I am painfully aware of the shocking lack of evidence on my side. I'm just pleased you're trying".

There was another lull in the conversation as neither of them knew where the conversation would go next. Alec was just about to make his excuses, when he suddenly picked up on what Magnus said to him earlier.

"How did you know I'm a QC? It literally only happened a couple of days ago, and I know that the article you read must've been from before I took silk".

Magnus' answering laughter just made him more confused.

"Mr Lightwood", he spoke ignoring the annoyed glare Alec gave him. "Do you think I would seek to hire someone without properly researching them? You read law at Cambridge, graduated top of your class with several first places in major mooting competitions. You were called to the bar at 23, made a QC at 38, making you one of the youngest silks in our country. It seems that you are every bit as intelligent as you are handsome."

 _Handsome?_

Alec could feel the blush building on his cheeks. He had no idea what he was supposed to say now. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't form a sentence. Magnus smirking at him didn't help.

"Well", he cleared his throat, standing as he did so. "I best be off, after all, I do have a case to start preparing. I will come to see you once I have something more concrete. In the meantime", Alec dug around in his briefcase until he found his business card, "here's my mobile and my personal office phone and my room number in the building so you can send any correspondence straight to me and not to nosy receptionists who will interrogate me the second I step foot in the building."

"Goodbye Alec", Magnus chuckled as he offered a hand to Alec. "I'm glad you came."

"Goodbye Magnus, look after yourself."

There was a heavy pause, Alec looking as if he had something more he wanted to say. But he didn't. Instead, he took one last look around the table to make sure he had all his papers with him and made his way out of the prison, saying goodbye to the guards as he went. He knew this case would be hard work, but as he settled into his work desk at home, he fully believed that if he uncovered the truth, it would be worth it.


	5. 6th August 2018

**A/N** \- Time for the real work to begin...  
 **Disclaimer-** Just a reminder that there may (probably) be some procedural inaccuracies in here. Also characters still belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

"Alexander my boy, how lovely to see you. Come on in, come in". Alec had missed the fatherly tones of the older man, the warm way he always greeted him; even if he did insist on always using his full name.

Being in his mid sixties, Terry Johnson had around 40 years experience at the criminal bar. He was a few inches shorter than Alec, but the wild, greying hair always added an inch or two to his height. Over the decades he had gathered a reputation amongst other barristers as being one of the bar's more eccentric personalities; the wild hair was nearly always paired with equally outrageous glasses and peculiarly patterned suits. When Alec had been completing his pupillage, he was lucky enough to have been assigned to Terry (at this point already in his late 40s) and everything that he had been taught in those formative years had been invaluable to him. He was extraordinarily lucky that the man had taken a liking to him and had decided to act as an adviser to him over the years. Alec's eye for detail and his methodical approach to work had all been ingrained by Terry. Alec had always wondered why the older man was never made a QC, but he never asked for fear of being rude.

"You look well Terry, still no retirement plans I hope?"

Alec settled himself in one of the two armchairs next to the fireplace; if Alec thought his room was well decorated, Terry's might as well have been straight out of a palace. It was all deep red walls, dark brown mahogany, chandeliers and heavy fabric chairs. It was grand and, as Alec had often thought when he had first started visiting, slightly intimidating.

"Oh God no, there's life in me still. Give me another decade or so, and then maybe I'll start to think about it. I still get up in the morning eager to work, and until that stops I don't really have much reason to leave. But enough about me", he exclaimed as he finally settled into the armchair opposite Alec and handed him one of the cups of tea he had been making; "congratulations are in order. Queen's Council. I bloody knew you could do it son. I told my wife after I met you that you would be terrific, and now look at you."

Alec had to blink ferociously for a few seconds to fight back the tears that had gathered unwanted in his eyes. He wasn't sure when, but he had long ago started seeing Terry as a second father, and his opinion mattered a great deal to him. Sometimes, though Alec was slightly ashamed to admit it, even more than his own father's.

"Thank you Terry, it means a lot". His voice was thin and wavered a little, but he was sure that a quick drink of his tea would set that right.

"As much as I do love to see you Alexander, I'm quite sure this isn't a social call. What is it that brings you here?"

He couldn't help the flash of guilt that built up inside him. It was true, he realised, that over the years he had more often than not only gone to see Terry only when he needed help. He couldn't even remember the last time that the two of them had only met up for a coffee. He made a mental note to make sure that he took the other man out for dinner when he had the time.

"Sorry Terry", Alec sheepishly replied. "What brings me here? Magnus Bane."

Terry didn't really look surprised, he just settled further into the grand armchair, nodding his head as if he had been expecting it all along. "I was beginning to wonder how long it would take for him to contact you; honestly I was surprised he hadn't done it a couple of years ago. I believe your pupillage with me was only a couple of months after his trial ended and I was astounded that you didn't try to ask me anything about it."

"It would have been unprofessional".

"I know. Your discipline in not asking was one of the reasons I knew you'd be great."

"Since you're not surprised he contacted me, does this mean you believe that he's innocent?"

The sigh Terry released as he ran a tired hand slowly down his face told Alec everything he needed to know. "I'll be honest with you Alexander, I wasn't sure then, and I'm not sure now. I mean, the claims he was making about being at the club would have been so easy to refute that I don't think he would have made it up. He's an intelligent man; if he was going to lie, surely he would have made up a more plausible story. But at the same time, I just could not get any evidence on his side, and the prosecution case was overwhelming."

"I need to know everything they had against him, and everything you had Terry. I think we have one argument we can start to build on, but it's not enough on its own."

"The lack of a drugs test? I considered making an argument in his appeal about failing to follow all plausible lines of inquiry, but it just wasn't enough. We needed something more and I didn't have it. None of Magnus' friends were in the UK at the time, and I believe they fell out of contact after his arrest. But more than that, a character statement from the defendant's friends isn't the most reliable piece evidence. In fact I've often found juries tend to mistrust the evidence of friends and family, most probably on the assumption that they'll be biased towards the defendant."

Alec found himself nodding along in understanding, his mind thinking back to the countless sleepless nights he had spent trying to search for any witnesses he could use who weren't closely related to the defendant he was working with.

"And the prosecution case?" Alec was almost afraid to ask his question; the way things were going, it didn't seem that he would like the answer. "How damaging was it?"

"Bad with a capital B and an exclamation point. I'll take you through it step by step as they unravelled Magnus' arguments". Terry paused as he allowed Alec the time to dig out his notebook and a pen.

"First was Camille. I tried to discredit her with the information Magnus gave me about him being the reason her father was imprisoned, but there was no evidence to support his claim that she would set him up, or even for that matter, that she even knew he was the one who reported him to the police. It was his word against hers, and in the end, she won. She was his girlfriend at the time, and she denied ever having gone to the club with him, instead saying that she had stayed at home all night as she had to open her antiques shop early the next morning for the plumber who had to fix the bathroom sink. More problematically, she claimed that Magnus had never really gotten over Etta, claiming that he often spoke of how he still loved her, and how she would be 'sorry' that she left.

Then, there was Amatis Graymark and Malachi Dieudonne; Magnus' neighbour and the owner of Pandemonium respectively. Amatis supported Camille's claims about his desire for revenge, but took it further, saying he had a bad temper and often heard shouting when the two were together. Malachi also denied ever seeing Magnus at the club that night, but even more conveniently, when he showed us the CCTV footage, he said the camera just hadn't been working that night. There is the possibility that he wiped it himself, but I just didn't have the means then to prove it.

The final witness was Sebastian Verlac; he lived next door to Etta and her husband. He moved in about 6 or so months before they died. He claimed (and positively identified him in a line-up) that he saw Magnus walking towards Etta's house shortly before the estimated time of death. So as you can see, so far the witnesses testifying against Magnus were enough to paint a very solid picture of him as the murderer.

The forensic evidence further solidified the case and consisted of two key pieces; traces of Etta's blood on his jumper and a knife in his flat with a few flakes of her blood on it. All of this combined was enough to secure his conviction, and honestly if you had seen the pictures of the crime scene, you can understand why the judge made the decision to give a whole life order."

His hope sank the more Alec heard from Terry; what originally looked like a rather steep hill was turning out to be Mount Everest. He was beginning to wonder if he really would succeed, or if he had just risked his entire career for an impossible task.

"And who was the investigating officer?"

"Hodge Starkweather, but the interesting thing is that he was not originally assigned the case. The original investigating officer was Margaret Thomas and she had far more experience with violent crimes, especially ones that seemed to be driven by revenge. It made no sense that the case was taken off of her, and when I spoke to her, she made it clear that it was against her will."

For the first time since Terry had started to explain Magnus' case fully, Alec finally allowed himself to believe that he may be on track to lay the foundations for a second strand of argument. After all, it just made no sense to reassign a case to a less experienced officer unless something untoward was occurring.

"I wouldn't get too excited Alexander. I looked into Starkweather at the time, he's squeaky clean; no internal investigations, no complaints and no allegations of misconduct. The same is true for all of his superiors at the time. If something underhand was happening; there wasn't any evidence of it".

"But still", Alec said as he felt his hope diminishing, "it's something to look into. At the moment I think the best course of action would be to convince the police chief to allow another investigation. To do that, I just need to form a compelling enough argument, I don't need anything concrete right now".

"I think you might be right Alexander, as it stands there is no evidence you _can_ call on to support your arguments without reinvestigating what's available".

There was a lull in conversation as the two men stood up and headed towards the door, Alec picking up his briefcase and putting his notebook away. Terry stopped him just as they reached the exit.

"I need you to promise me you won't beat yourself up if you don't succeed with this, Alexander. Quite frankly, you have an almost impossible task ahead of you".

"I promise".

Alec smiled as they shared a quick hug and a promise that they would have to grab dinner some time. Alec had barely made it down the street as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number he knew by heart.

"Hey Jace, you've finished your shift right... That's great, I need a favour; meet me at the coffee shop down the road from your station...I'll tell you more when you get there."

The walk to the coffee shop from Terry's chambers wasn't far, so ten minutes after phoning his brother, Alec found himself sat in a back corner of the little coffee shop with a large black coffee sitting in front of him. It only took another 15 minutes for his brother to arrive and it wasn't too difficult to spot him when he did; after all he was the only shockingly blonde police officer in the building looking like he needed about a week's worth of sleep. Alec used the few minutes it took for Jace to order himself a coffee and a sandwich to take out all the notes he needed. He really hoped his brother would help him out with this, because if he didn't he had no idea who else he could turn to.

"Alec". A tired voice greeted him as his brother slumped into the chair opposite, hastily opening the sandwich box and taking a large bite.

"Jace, how are you doing? You look exhausted".

"My 8 hour shift turned into 12 and then just as I wanted to go home to sleep my darling brother decided to call me for a favour. Safe to say, sleep is desperately needed. What about you, you have a slightly manic look in your eyes. You okay?"

"Peachy", Alec couldn't tell if he sounded snarky or not. "And it is precisely why I phoned you."

"Fantastic", Jace mumbled as he took another large bite of his chicken and salad sandwich. "Fancy telling me why you needed to see me?"

Alec looked around to make sure that no one could listen into their conversation and leant closer to his brother so he could safely lower his voice.

"Magnus Bane."

His brother, the police officer who had seen so many bizarre things that he was notoriously difficult to surprise, promptly began to choke on the coffee he had just started drinking.

"What the hell Alec? Magnus Bane, as in the convicted murderer Magnus Bane?"

"Hear me out Jace", Alec could tell that his brother was not happy. "You know I don't just agree to help everyone who asks me; I've turned down just as many people as I've accepted. I really think there's something to what he's saying Jace, it just needs to be found and I have a feeling it will involve areas that I just don't have access to."

"Which I guess is where I come in. What information do you have?"

"Here", Alec passed his notebook to his brother as he stood up. "You read this while I get us each another coffee".

"And a muffin," his brother called back to him.

Whilst they had been talking, the queue at the till had grown impressively long meaning that Alec was stuck waiting 15 minutes before he could order, and then another five as he waited for it to be ready. As a result, by the time he had returned to their table, armed with not one but three muffins in an attempt to bribe his brother, Jace had already closed the notebook and was sat staring out of the window at the busy street.

"Your thoughts?"

"You make life bloody difficult you know Alec. There is literally no evidence supporting any of his arguments, which I guess means you want me to re-investigate everything?"

"I'll help."

"Oh I have no doubt about that, but this is going to involve warrants and all kinds of procedures you can't access. I'm going to need more than the slight possibility of a failure to follow all lines of inquiry to get permission to reopen this. And we definitely need more than the fact it's weird Hodge got given the case. We can't go to the chief until we have something else, okay?"

"Wait so you're going to help?"

"If I can. You know I'll probably have to use up some of my holiday time for this, right?"

"I'll pay you back I swear".

Jace sighed as he placed a hand over his brother's. "You don't have to Alec, just let me grumble. You're not the only person who entered their profession to pursue justice."

"I know", Alec smiled at his brother squeezing his hand before pulling his back to flick open the notebook. "I think our first port of call has got to be Pandemonium. I refuse to believe that the CCTV cameras were conveniently broken the one night they were needed."

"Agreed. I also think we need to speak to this Camille, and we need to do it quickly before she realises what we're doing. For as long as we can, we have got to keep this out of the newspapers. If there is a cover up going on, the second news gets out, our investigation is destroyed. Right now, we just need to get enough to convince the chief that there is something to look into."

"Okay. Tomorrow we go to Camille's antiques store and then to Pandemonium, see what we can find out. I think it is best we don't make it look like we're trying to gather information; it wouldn't be a good idea to scare them off too early."

His brother nodded as they stood up, shrugging on their jackets and heading out of the coffee shop. "Meet me outside Kensington tube station at 2pm. You know I can't guarantee we can get permission to do this, right?"

"I know Jace", Alec pulled his brother into a hug. "But I'm really glad you're trying."

"Well, someone has to keep an eye on you. Now go get some rest before you burn yourself out."

"I could say the same to you", was all Alec said as he walked to get the tube home.

The problem with getting the tube and not driving was that Alec had time to properly think about the day's events, so by the time he got home he was deeply frustrated with a slight headache. Today he'd just been left with more questions and the ever growing belief that he could not succeed. He really hoped tomorrow would bring some of the answers he desperately needed.


	6. 7th August 2018

**A/N** \- So sorry for the delay, I was moving back to uni and everything's been a bit hectic. As always, feel free to let me know what you think!

jhti777- thank you for your comment. Don't worry, I won't leave a story unfinished :)

 **Disclaimer-** characters belong to Cassandra Clare

* * *

"Does this make me your attractive sidekick", Jace called out in greeting as he took long strides towards his brother, not paying any attention to the stares he was receiving as he pushed his way through the crowds pouring in and out of Kensington tube station.

Alec simply rolled his eyes and wordlessly gave his brother one of the cups of overpriced, watery coffee he was holding. He supposed it was better than nothing.

"Camille's antiques shop is about a fifteen minute walk from here. So I would suggest we get our plan sorted now, any hint that we might be questioning her and I think she will close herself off completely".

"Well we need a reason for being there", his brother helpfully supplied before he took a sip of the hot beverage, wincing at the flavour.

Alec hummed in agreement as he tried to think of a plausible explanation. Something told Alec that _I think you're a lying, manipulative bitch,_ just wouldn't be appreciated. "Izzy's birthday is soon, I suppose we could pretend that we're looking for a present but don't know what she would like. She must sell jewellery in there, right?"

"I suppose that could work", Jace responded as the two started to walk away from the hustle and bustle of the tube station onto the only slightly quieter high street. "We'd need to distract her once we got into the shop. I'd suggest go in, have a quick look around at the layout and then I'll ask her if she can talk me through a couple of items while you carry on 'looking' around the shop."

"And why would you be the distraction?"

The look Jace sent him was a clear 'you've got to be kidding me'. "Do you really want to flirt with her? Besides, not many people can resist this", he added suggestively as he pointed to himself.

"Git", Alec said as he shoved his brother on the shoulder, making him stumble as they turned onto the side street that held the antiques shop.

There were a couple of other shops on the street, but they were either expensive bakeries or women's clothes shops. Alec made a mental note that if they really couldn't find something for Izzy in the antiques shop, then they might as well try in one of those. However all of those shops and bakeries were clearly new; all square architecture and neat white paint. Camille's store couldn't have stood out any more if it tried, what with its heavy wooden door and stone gargoyles.

"You think this is the right place?" The two had just come to a stop outside the shop when Jace asked this, peering into the dimly lit window in a futile attempt to see into the shop.

"Considering it has 'Camille's Antiques' printed on one of the windows I'm pretty sure it is", Alec responded, pushing open the heavy door and stepping inside the shop.

The shop was empty as the brothers walked around; Alec noting that the counter was immediately to the left of the door as you entered with an archway behind it which he assumed lead to some sort of office. The small square floor had rows of objects laid out around the edges against the walls and windows, and in a small square in the centre of the shop. The layout left just one continuous piece of flooring which followed itself back around to the counter, leaving customers surrounded by potential purchases on both the left and the right. The dim lighting made it hard to see, but Alec assumed it was like that in order to preserve the stock as much as possible.

It wasn't an understatement to say that the shop contained pretty much everything Alec expected from an antiques store. As they walked around, Alec noted a section for old toys, a section for books, another for furniture, a fourth for jewellery and brooches, a section which he labelled 'miscellaneous' (one shelf contained old coins while the next contained various different trinkets, all of which sat under several hanging paintings) and the final section of old clothes (which Izzy most definitely would not appreciate).

"At least the jewellery is right at the back. The shelves in the middle should stop her seeing what you're doing up front". Jace had leant close to Alec so he could speak without fear of being overheard, even if they hadn't seen the owner of the store as they walked in. "Do you remember what was up by the front of the desk?"

"Some scarves, I think"; Alec was just as quiet as he responded. "I also think she left a couple of books open on her desk but I definitely saw a CCTV camera so I'd have to see what I can look at without touching it."

"Alright; time to get this show on the road".

The brothers moved around to the counter by the door, trying to peer into the back room when they saw there was still no one there. They were just about to ring the large bell labelled 'press here for assistance' when a woman about their age walked in through the archway. Objectively speaking, Alec could see she was an attractive woman; she had long blond hair that fell past her shoulders in waves and bright green eyes adorned with expertly applied makeup. She was pretty, but Alec didn't trust her. When she smiled at them it didn't reach her eyes, and Alec had long ago learnt to be wary of people who smiled only with their mouth. More often than not, it had always meant they had something to hide.

"Hello gentlemen", she all but purred as she made her way to the counter. "How may I help the two of you?"

"Well", Jace began, successfully drawing Camille's attention to himself and away from Alec's wandering gaze. "It's our sister's birthday soon and we are yet to find her a suitable present. We thought perhaps one of the pieces of jewellery at the back might work, but neither of us could really figure out what she might like. Perhaps you could help?" Alec could practically see the charm dripping from his words.

"Of course I can". She quickly moved away from behind the counter, walking swiftly towards the back of the shop without asking either of them to follow; it seemed she just expected them to do so. "Why don't you tell me a little about her?" There was a pause, as if she only just looked to see if the two men had followed her. "Where's your brother?"

"Oh", Alec heard Jace reply quickly. "He saw the scarves by the front desk and thought that maybe our mother would like one. Honestly, she has the biggest scarf collection of anyone I've ever met. Now, about Izzy..."

 _Good lad_ , Alec thought as he tuned out the conversation and focused on the task at hand, listening out only for footsteps that would alert him to someone's presence. He began by looking at the scarves; after all, if she were to check the CCTV later (Alec didn't know why she would, but it was better to be safe than sorry) it wouldn't do to not look at them. Besides, from where the small rotating stand was placed, he could stand by them and still get a good look at the book open on the desk. On closer inspection it appeared to be some sort of diary. Words like 'delivery' and 'lunch' stood out to him, but he quickly dismissed them as irrelevant. What did interest him, however, was the **V.M** that was written in for the following day. There was nothing else by it, no address, no time; but it was written in bold _and_ underlined so Alec knew it had to be something important. Also, he had carried out enough cases to know that someone only ever used initials when they didn't want someone to find out about it.

Sadly Alec didn't have long to dwell on it, as he soon heard footsteps heading his way.

"... either could work, but I'd have to check with my brother". Jace winked at him as he came into view, the action missed by Camille who returned to her position behind the counter. "Camille here has been most helpful, brother. We've managed to narrow it down to two or three, but you should probably come have a look so if she hates it I can blame it on you. You find anything for mum?"

Sometimes, Alec thought he should be concerned about how easily Jace was able to lie to people. "Yes", Alec immediately responded picking up the nearest scarf to him. It was a dark blue with traces of indigo in it. It was a nice scarf; it was just a shame his mother despised the garment. "I think this one would fit in well with the rest of the collection. How about I come and take a look at the jewellery with you. Ma'am", Alec added as he remembered that he had to keep Camille at the counter. "Do you think you could wrap this for me?"

"It will cost extra".

"That's no problem at all."

Alec didn't say anything else as he left the scarf at the counter and walked to the back of the room with his brother following close behind him.

"You find anything?" Jace asked quietly before loudly adding, "See we were stuck between the silver necklace with the ruby, and the emerald earrings. Personally, I could see her with either."

"Let me think a minute", Alec responded so Camille could hear. "She's got something with a V.M tomorrow", he murmured, "but that was all I could see. How long have I got to stay here deliberating for?"

"I don't know. I think we can drag it out for ten or so minutes, see if anything happens."

"Right. By the way, I'd go for the ruby necklace. I don't think I've ever seen Izzy wear anything green."

"Neither have I", Jace laughed in return. "I just needed an excuse to get you back here. Hold up", he added as Alec opened his mouth to respond. "I think I hear the office phone ringing. Pick up the necklace and let's go to the book section as I think it's closer to the counter than this is so we should be able to hear better".

The both of them made their way silently to the selection of old books. Alec was glad, he'd glanced at them briefly and he was quite sure he saw a couple of old law commentaries in there that looked interesting. It was as he went to pick up one of the books that Camille's angry voice floated into the shop floor. They couldn't tell what she was saying, but it was clear that she was not happy. The two retreated to the back of the shop when they heard her coming closer and Alec hoped she had forgotten they were there so she would speak more freely.

"No, you listen to me," the pleasantry that Alec and Jace had been greeted with earlier had disappeared, and instead her voice was cold and hard. "Don't you dare threaten me Hodge Starkweather, I know what I have to do. Now I suggest you don't contact me again unless you want me to tell him what you've been saying."

Alec turned to Jace and he knew that the shock he could see on his brother's face would be reflected on his own. _Hodge_ , Jace mouthed at him questioningly. Alec just shrugged his shoulders as they moved towards the counter, necklace and book in hand.

"Oh gentlemen, I thought you had left". Camille was clearly surprised at not being on her own, and Alec was quite sure he could see a hint of worry deep in her bright green eyes.

"Oh no", Jace replied. "We just had a bit of trouble choosing what to get, which was made even worse when Alec decided to take a break to get a book. We finally settled on the ruby necklace though, so if we could take these and the scarf that would be great, thank you."

"Of course", Camille answered tightly, looking at them both suspiciously as she bagged the items and processed everything through the till. "You two have a good day", she said, smiling as she handed the bag to Alec. He didn't fail to notice that once again, the action didn't reach her eyes.

"You too", Alec called as they stepped out of the shop and onto the pavement.

Neither of them said anything as they walked back to the tube station and made their way to Jace's flat where they would wait for the club to open. To any onlookers, the silence between them might have seemed strange, but Alec knew it was necessary for them to process what they had learnt. He also knew it was necessary to ensure that no information made its way to other people before they were ready to act on it. Consequently, it was only once they were sat on the sofa in Jace's living room with the front door locked behind them that they began to speak again.

"Hodge? As in the Hodge at my station, Hodge? No, Alec there's _no way_ he would be involved in a cover up or anything. He's squeaky clean, and I mean squeaky. I don't think I've ever seen him break even a minor rule regarding paperwork."

"I know Jace, Terry said the same thing. But don't you think it's weird that he was given Magnus' case despite the fact that he was less experienced than the officers already handling it? Isn't it even stranger that he clearly knows a key witness? Not only that, but he has something on her to _threaten her_ with?"

Jace shook his head sadly. "The captain would never believe us Alec. Hodge is too good; he's been there too long."

"Yes, but coupled with the failure to pursue all lines of inquiry, surely the strangeness of Hodge's involvement might allow him to give you at least a week to see what you can find out."

"He might, but really Alec we're clutching at straws here. We need something from Pandemonium to convince Burrows that there is something to Magnus' claims, or rather that there could be. What time does it open again?"

"10, but the first hour or so is usually quiet. It's really built up in the last 20 or so years, and I heard the boss had to hire more staff. I'd say look for someone young enough not to have been working there at the time. Hopefully, we'd be able to get some honest information out of them."

"Right, well since it's only three thirty now, I'm going to grab some shut eye while I can; I've got a feeling you're going to drag me into a busy couple of weeks. Feel free to use the sofa if you want, sorry I don't have a guest room to give you."

"Don't worry about it Jace, the sofa is fine for me."

The sofa was horrendously uncomfortable, but Alec wasn't about to make his brother feel bad, not when he was helping him when he clearly had a lot of his own work to get through. Besides, he had fallen asleep in one of the arm chairs in his room at his chambers before, and anything had to be better than that. It wasn't long before his exhaustion caught up with him and he was asleep, his discomfort long forgotten. It felt like no time had passed when his brother woke him up again, ready to head over to Pandemonium.

Pandemonium was a little further away from Jace's flat than Camille's antiques shop had been. It was also far busier than Camille's shop had been which meant that if Alec and Jace were being careful before, they were being extremely careful now.

"What about her?" Jace tilted his head discreetly at the bar behind Alec as the two of them sipped their beers. "She definitely can't be older than 25, no way would she have been working here when _it_ happened."

They agreed before they left that they wouldn't mention Magnus by name, nor would they mention what happened. It was the only way they could ensure that their work wasn't jeopardised before it even properly began.

Alec shifted a little in his seat to glance at the left hand side of the bar. "You mean the girl who served us? I don't think she liked you very much."

"Ouch. Okay then, you can take the lead on this one". He quickly gulped down the rest of his drink and got to his feet. "Come on, then."

Alec had no choice but to follow if he didn't want his brother ruining everything. It took a couple of minutes for the girl to ask them for their drinks, but once she did, Alec took the opportunity to see what information he could get out of her.

"Wow", the bartender said to him. "You two are back quickly".

"Yeah, it's been a rough couple of days."

"Oh yeah", she replied, eyebrows raised and a clear question in her voice as she took out two of the same bottles. "Nothing too bad I hope".

"Oh, just my parents; they're never really happy with what I want to do, you know?"

"Tell me about it. Mine have given me nothing but crap for working here, but I'm not quite sure how else they expect me to fund a master's degree. I'm Maia by the way."

Alec took the hand she held out. "I'm Alec, this is my brother Jace. What's it like working for Malachi, I swear he's had this place longer than I've been alive."

Maia laughed loudly in response. "Don't I know it. In my first week I think they told me ten times not to mess up because the club has been theirs for decades and it would break their hearts to see it go". She snorted as she picked up a glass to polish. "Malachi's alright, I never really see him much because he spends a lot of time in the office. His wife is a bit strange though."

"Strange how? All the times I've been here over the years I don't think I've ever seen her."

"You probably wouldn't have, she's rarely here. No, I think she's a bit paranoid. I tell you, that woman is obsessed with security."

"Well, it is a night club. I'm guessing you guys get a fair few fights."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to be obsessed with CCTV. Can you believe one of my jobs is to maintain all the records they have? I swear she has a copy of footage from every night since they got the bloody thing installed."

"Oh", Alec faked surprise. "So it's not a fake? When we were younger, someone started this rumour that they were fake and only there to trick people into behaving. Believe it or not, but it actually worked. I swear no one ever fought."

"Fake?" Maia could barely control her loud laughs, the other customers turning to give them strange glances. "I have to check that thing is working every morning, and apparently so did my predecessor. No way would she let it be a fake."

"Well if it means you won't get burgled, I guess it's a good thing".

"I suppose not". There was a pause as Maia looked at them questioningly. "You said you come here fairly often, but I've been here four years and I've not seen either of you around."

"It's been a busy couple of years work wise for both of us". Jace could cut in quick when he needed to. "This has been the first time we've really been able to go out. Don't expect us to stay for the actual pounding music though, now we only ever come for a couple of drinks. We've always liked the atmosphere here, even if our clubbing days are behind us."

"Alright then; you two have a good night".

"You too; do you think we could grab a couple more beers?"

"Sure".

Once they had their drinks they made their way back to their small round table. They started arranging plans for Izzy's birthday and discussed whether they were going to try to see a match at Wimbledon next year. They stayed long enough that it didn't look like they had gone just for information, so it was only after an hour had passed that the two decided to go back to Jace's flat.

" _Oh, it's not fake"_ , Jace said in an accurate copy of Alec's voice, mocking his brother as they fell onto his sofa.

"Shut it. How else was I supposed to get her to talk about the CCTV without making her think I wanted to know something?"

"I don't know. But I'm not sure how a conspiracy theory was your first choice."

"Well it worked didn't it? If Malachi's wife really is like that, then there is no way that the cameras weren't working that night. Someone had to have deleted the recording. You guys can trace that right?"

"I think Simon said something about digital footprints once. I'm not too sure. But we'd need a warrant for that Alec."

"Surely all of this is enough to at least grant some extra digging. All of this can't just be a coincidence, there has to be something to what Magnus is saying."

"I'll talk to Burrows in the morning. I'm still not promising anything though."

"I know. I really appreciate it."

"Good night Alec." His brother stood and made his way to his bedroom.

"Night Jace", Alec replied as he settled on the couch and stared at the ceiling. He tried to push his growing hope down; he knew it wouldn't be good to get too excited only for Jace to tell him tomorrow that he hadn't been given permission to investigate. As he shut his eyes and started to drift off to sleep, Alec couldn't stop his mind from drifting to someone else entirely. Someone he couldn't help.

" _Sometimes life's like that, Alec. It's unfair and there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing any of us can do. It doesn't mean it's your fault. Okay?"_


	7. 8th August 2018

**A/N-** Hi everyone! Remember me? I've emerged from the abyss of studying to bring you this. I'm really sorry to say I just haven't had the time to do any writing recently so I'm going to have to reduce updates to once every other week for a while. But maybe it'll help build suspense. I just want to thank everyone who's been reading, especially those of you who have been leaving me some comments. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and as always let me know what you think!

Sunshine88- I'm glad you liked it; it's safe to say Jace isn't the only character we'll all get to know well.

 **Disclaimer-** Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

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8th August 2018

Since his meeting with Alec, Magnus had found himself in a much better mood. He smiled to himself more, he didn't dwell on the fact that he might never be allowed out of the prison; he even started humming to himself in the shower again. He knew it was dangerous, but he didn't let himself think that Alec might not be able to help him. He just couldn't; not when, for the first time in years, he finally had hope again.

Magnus even found himself drawing every day. He drew from memory with the coloured pencils he had convinced the guards to give him. He hardly ever drew people; there wasn't anyone he wanted to draw anymore. But he often drew sceneries; the hills in the Lake District, the lochs in Scotland or the beach down in Devon. He drew the places he had loved to visit and places he had only ever seen in pictures before. He was currently working on a sketch of the mountains in the north of Italy. He had always wanted to go to Italy, but had never had the chance.

 _Maybe I'll go if Alec can secure me some sort of release date_ , Magnus thought to himself wistfully. His drawing was interrupted by a quick knock on the cell door, the only warning he was given before he could hear the lock opening and the door was swung open. The prison guard stood looking at him expectantly, as if he was supposed to know what was happening. Magnus couldn't remember her name, but he was certain that she didn't like him very much. He was glad she wasn't the usual guard who normally followed him around.

"Come on then Bane, I've not got all day".

She spoke in a monotonous business tone as she gestured for him to stand up. He did so slowly, reluctantly. He had no idea why he was being summoned; he had done nothing wrong, there had been no trouble and even if there was, it wasn't like they could do anything more to him; he was already in an isolation cell.

"Um, do you think you could tell me what we're doing?"

"Mr Lightwood would like to see you. I'm here to take you to the meeting room. Now, as I said earlier I don't have all day, so get moving."

Magnus swallowed. "Do you know why he wants to see me?"

"It's not any of my business."

The guard was silent for the rest of the journey towards the meeting rooms. In the silence, all Magnus could think about were the possible motives Alec might have for wanting to see him; none of them were good. Maybe he was letting him know that there was nothing he could do, or that he had looked into his case a bit and decided that he didn't want to help at all, that he believed that Magnus was guilty just as everyone else did. Magnus didn't think he could cope if it was the last one; he just needed one other person to be on his side.

"Well, here we are then", the irritable guard stated as they reached meeting room 3; the very same room that Magnus and Alec had met in a couple of days ago.

Magnus pushed the door open slowly and made his way inside, his worries still bouncing around in his head. They did, however, quieten down a bit when he saw the gentle smile that Alec sent his way. That was, until he remembered that Alec was a good man and that if he was going to let him down he was probably going to do so in the kindest way possible. When he remembered that, his panic returned full force.

"Magnus, it's nice to see you again". Alec greeted him cordially as he entered the room and sat down at the table opposite the blue eyed man.

"It's nice to see you too, Alec." Magnus paused for a second to admire the other man's smile. In their last meeting Magnus had gathered that Alec was a very serious man, especially when it came to his work. That fact reflected into his blue eyes, making them dark and steady. But when he smiled as he did now, Magnus saw how his eyes lightened and he was once again struck at just how beautiful the other man was.

 _Now is not the time to be thinking this,_ Magnus scolded himself before saying: "this is an unexpected visit."

"Yes, well I've had a busy couple of days and I thought you would like an update." The barrister paused as he took a long drink from the coffee cup in front of him, and Magnus suddenly noticed how tired he looked, how dark the circles under his eyes were.

"Have you been sleeping properly?" Magnus couldn't help being concerned; he never did like it when people overworked themselves for his benefit.

"Slightly irregularly, but yes I've been sleeping", Alec chuckled in response. He must've looked guilty because Alec spoke again before he could apologise. "Don't worry about it though; I've not had a regular sleeping pattern in years. Sleep was a sacrifice I had to make when entering this profession. So was my social life. Do you want to hear something funny?"

Magnus was a bit taken aback by the sudden change in topic. "Sure." He wasn't going to say no to a good laugh, he hadn't had one in ages.

"Do you remember who your original barrister was?"

Of course Magnus did, he had rested all his hopes on that man. Magnus knew he had done everything he could, but he often found himself wondering if Mr Johnson ever fully believed he was innocent. "Terry Johnson. He was quite eccentric if I remember correctly; great speaking voice though."

He watched amusedly as Alec chuckled fondly. "Yep, that's Terry. Now for the fun part; he was actually my mentor when I did my pupillage, and to this day has sort of remained as an advisor to me. You were in good hands, Magnus. Anything that went wrong had nothing to do with him, that I am sure of."

"Can I ask you something Alec?"

"Of course you can, I work for you. You can ask me anything you like."

"Did he ever fully believe me?" Magnus braced himself for the answer he wasn't too sure he wanted. He waited for Alec's response, watched as the other assessed him with steady blue eyes as if he was deciding the best way to answer.

"100%? No, I don't think so. But he never really believed you were guilty either. He didn't think you were lying, he said you were too intelligent to make up a defence that could be defeated so easily, but I just think the lack of evidence wouldn't let him be certain. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear."

"It's fine Alec", Magnus tried to smile at him. "Part of me always thought he never fully believed I was innocent, it's just nice to know he didn't believe I was guilty. But Terry Johnson can't be the only reason you're here."

"No he isn't" Alec conceded, immediately shifting into business mode as he opened his notebook and sat up straighter in his chair. "I told you he sometimes advises me, and like me he agreed that the failure to take a drugs test can form a ground to argue a failure to pursue all lines of inquiry. But as I told you the other day, I needed more. I've been to Pandemonium and I've seen Camille and I have gathered some rather interesting information. The first is that the CCTV at the club is rigorously tested every morning to make sure it is working, which leads us to doubt whether it really was broken the night you were there. The second thing I have learnt is that the officer who was given your case, Hodge Starkweather appears to have a connection to Camille, and given that he was never supposed to have your case at all, I find it quite alarming".

Alec paused, allowing Magnus time to digest everything that he had just been told. It sounded like he may be able to find something supporting his defence after all, but Alec hadn't come out to say that he had enough material to launch an appeal, so maybe he was just letting him know that he was working on it?

"What does this mean Alec?" Magnus could barely raise his voice above a pained whisper.

"I told you before that this would be difficult, that I wouldn't be able to access many of the areas we would need to. Fortunately for us, my brother is a police officer, and he can access the areas I need him to, in fact he was helping me yesterday. He went to his boss first thing this morning to convince him to reopen an investigation, and let me tell you, from what I gathered he needed a lot of convincing. Starkweather is a very well respected officer, and these sort of unsubstantiated claims normally don't go down well. I'm not too sure how he did it, but Jace managed to convince his boss that too many unanswered questions were beginning to arise."

"Meaning?"

"The investigation has been reopened."

Magnus would be lying if he denied that that was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard, if he denied that the smile Alec gave him wasn't the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen. He felt himself smile in return, but he could also feel the tears welling up in his eyes and pour down his cheeks. Before he knew it, he was sobbing into his hands, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had waited too long for this moment. His joy was interrupted as Alec started to speak again, and Magnus should have known it wouldn't have been without conditions.

"We have to be careful though, Magnus. Burrows made it abundantly clear that he wants as little media coverage of this as it's possible to get. He also wants us to be careful with Starkweather; we're not allowed to take any formal action against him until we have solid proof of his involvement. We're also limited to Jace alone, Burrows isn't ready to spare any more resources until we have something more solid for him."

"Okay", Magnus sniffled. "That all sounds reasonable, and you have my word that I won't be spreading any news of this until you give me the all clear to talk to people."

"Burrow's conditions aren't our only problem", Alec continued. "Word will get out; probably the second we issue a warrant on Pandemonium. We have very limited time to gather the information we need, and once information gets out you can bet whoever is involved will start to cover their tracks. Our investigation will only get harder once we get started, and the deeper we dig, the more digging we'll end up having to do. You have to be prepared for dead ends and speed bumps Magnus, because this will not be easy. There will be times when you will think I'm making no progress or things are moving too slowly, you need to expect that. Which brings me to my condition."

 _Condition?_ Magnus had told him he couldn't pay him, and Alec assured him that he was happy to take the job. Why would he suddenly want something now?

"What condition would that be?" Magnus tried not to sound too concerned as he asked the question.

"Promise me that no matter how difficult things start to seem, no matter how helpless you might start to feel, you will not give up. No matter what the media starts to say about you, I need you to promise me that you will continue to fight."

Magnus was taken aback by the urgency in his voice, the way he gripped the table too hard and looked pleadingly into his eyes as if Magnus' assurance was something he depended on. It made Magnus wonder, not for the first time, why Alec was agreeing to help him.

"I promise Alec, I won't give up. Can I ask you something else?" Magnus wasn't sure he'd get an honest answer to this question, but he thought he'd try anyway.

"Sure, I already told you to ask me what you like."

"Why are you so willing to help me?"

Magus regretted asking that question almost immediately; he never wanted to see that level of sadness in those blue eyes again. He hated the faraway look Alec wore, and he heated even more the mask Alec constructed as he tried to hide how he was feeling.

"I told you I believe in justice."

"But why?" _Damn it Magnus; stop pushing before you scare him off._

"You don't need to know why, at least not yet. If I think it has become relevant, then maybe one day I will tell you."

Alec's tone was very clearly dismissive and final, and Magnus watched forlornly as he started to pack his items back into his briefcase.

 _I said you'd scare him off._

"I'm afraid I'll have to go now", Alec said refusing to meet his eyes. "Jace and I need to sit down and plan our strategy. Our first stop will be Pandemonium, but I'll come back when I have something else to tell you or if I need some information. In the meantime please don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything. Especially if things start to get too much for you, okay?"

"Okay", Magnus said standing up and accepting the handshake that Alec offered. "I'm looking forward to working together, Alexander." He took great delight in the blush that blossomed over the other man's pale cheeks, and he made a mental note to call him Alexander more often from now on.

"I'll see you in a couple of days Magnus."

"I can't wait", Magnus called to the retreating figure.

It didn't take long before the prison officer was back in the room ready to escort him back to his cell. Once he had settled at his desk once more, pencil in his hand, Magnus couldn't quite shake the pain he felt at being left alone. He and Alec had only spoken for less than an hour, and yet it was still the most contact he had had with someone outside of this prison in 17 years. He promised himself that the next time Alec came he wouldn't just focus on his case; he'd try to know everything he could about the blue eyed barrister.

Operation 'what is Alec hiding?' was born.


	8. 9th August 2018

**A/N -** Hi everyone! Sorry for missing last week, but I hope you like the chapter. As always, thanks for reading.

 **Disclaimer -** Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

9th August 2018

"It's your call Alec. He asked for your help, so I'll follow wherever you want to go; do we go to Malachi first, or Camille?" Jace leant back in the oversized armchair and closed his eyes, tiredness etched into every inch of his face.

It was early on the Thursday morning; the day after Alec had gone to see Magnus. He had called his brother to his office so that they could plan their first move, both of them acutely aware of the need to move quickly before anyone was alerted to their mission.

Alec groaned as he hit his head against the back of the chair. "It's an impossible decision. If we move against one, I can guarantee that within five minutes of us leaving, everyone who is implicated in this will be warned to hide the evidence. What would you pick?"

"There's no doubt that Camille seems to hold a lot of information that if lost will set us back massively. However, that CCTV footage is crucial to establishing Magnus' honesty, and if Malachi realises he did a poor job in deleting it, it's gone for good. You need to decide which you need more."

Alec thought for a couple of minutes. "The club closed at 4AM the night Magnus said he was there, the estimated time of death was put at between 5 and 5:30; plenty of time for Magnus to have gone there even if he was at the club. So even if we do recover the CCTV footage, it won't give him an Alibi. And yes, you're right that Camille has a lot of important information, but even if she does try to hide it, I'm sure that there may be some way for us to find it; even if we have to take the long way around."

Jace gave him a small, tired smile. "Looks like you've made your mind up brother, Malachi it is. I'd recommend going when the club is open, that way he has no opportunity to get rid of anything. Let's just pray they've not thrown out that computer."

"Well, if his wife is every bit the hoarder Maia said she is, I think we have a strong chance of finding it."

Alec settled into his chair and picked up his coffee, taking a large drink as he allowed himself to relax, even if just for a moment. Wordlessly, he picked up the bag of croissants he had bought and passed it to his brother, watching as he took a large bite and spilled pastry all over his clean floor. He frowned as his brother gave him a sheepish smile; he didn't like his room to be dirty and he wasn't in the mood for vacuuming today.

"What time are we meeting Simon?"

"12, I'm buying lunch; see it as a thank you for agreeing to help."

Simon was Alec's brother in law, and although the two of them didn't really have much in common, Alec found himself to be quite fond of the younger man. He was two years younger than Alec, and had married Izzy when they were 25 and had finally completed their studies. The two met in their first year at university. Alec wasn't sure how since their courses were run by different departments in different buildings on campus, but he thought it had something to do with Simon's long abandoned band. He wasn't going to dwell on it, he was glad the two of them had met; Simon was a sweet man, and he treated his sister right. Alec couldn't ask any more of him.

"Well, I'm not going to turn down free", Jace replied as he tried to put his feet up on the coffee table, only to promptly lower them at the glare Alec gave him.

The two brothers sat and discussed Izzy's upcoming birthday and what they could do to celebrate while they waited for the time to pass. Alec felt slightly guilty for not spending the time focused on Magnus and his case, but since he and Jace knew what they were going to do next, he saw no harm in talking about something else; that was until he realised he had forgotten to ask a crucial question.

"Jace", Alec interrupted his brother, "you do have the search warrants for Malachi's computer and CCTV archives right?"

"What sort of policeman do you take me for? Of course I have them, I applied yesterday morning after Burrows gave me the all-clear, and they were sent to me an hour before I came here."

"Good", Alec said as he stood and put his coat on, noticing that the clock was saying they only had 30 minutes before they had to meet Simon at a small Italian restaurant not too far away. It was one of Alec's favourite restaurants in London, but for some reason it wasn't too busy at lunchtime which made it perfect for sensitive conversations that mustn't be overheard. Alec had even asked for a table in the back corner, just to make sure that they had as much privacy as possible.

"Why are we leaving now? You do know Simon probably won't be there that early, right?"

Wrong. It only took the two of them 10 minutes to walk to the restaurant, but despite being 20 minutes early they walked into the restaurant with Simon waving excitedly from the back of the room.

"Hey guys." Simon greeted them enthusiastically as he pulled them both into a hug. "Long time no see, Alec; congrats on the promotion."

"Thank you, Simon". Alec genuinely felt guilty at not having seen the younger man recently, perhaps he had let his work consume him more than he had realised.

The three of them took the time needed to order food and drink to catch up on everything that had happened in their lives; Simon and Izzy's recent trip to Berlin, Simon's new boss and Jace's new work colleague who seemed to dislike him more than anyone had before. They were careful not to speak about anything important until they had their food in front of them and they were sure that the waiter wasn't going to interrupt them.

"Look Simon", Alec said quietly, scanning the room to ensure that the other tables were deep into their own conversations. "I'll be honest with you, I asked you to meet us because we need your help tonight."

"What sort of help?"

"The computer kind, it's for a case I'm working on. We think that there's some CCTV footage that was deleted and I need someone to go through the computer and have a look. I can't tell you what the case is in public, but come to my house tonight and I can fill you in more."

"Okay sure, I can do that; though it is going to cost you."

"Name your price", Alec replied without missing a beat.

"We all have lunch together soon, and you can't keep saying you're too busy. We all worry about you, Izzy especially, and you're no use to anyone if you make yourself ill. So I will help tonight, but sometime next week, we all have dinner together. Okay?"

"You've got yourself a deal Lewis".

The rest of the meal passed in the same way as the beginning, with the three friends taking the opportunity to catch up on local TV shows and book recommendations. When they parted ways, with a promise to meet at Alec's house at 11, Alec was surprised to see that two hours had passed in the blink of an eye. It unfortunately also meant that they had 8 hours until they could go to the club. Alec supposed it was 8 hours that shouldn't be wasted, so while he sent Jace off to complete his own work, Alec returned to his chambers and went through all the notes he had prepared so far. Lost in his work, it didn't take long for the clock to hit 9PM.

Alec placed his papers into his briefcase and made sure that his door was locked behind him before he set off for the tube station. By the time he had gone home, changed, and travelled back to the tube station near Pandemonium where he had arranged to meet Jace, it was five minutes to ten, and he could tell, even as he approached his brother, that Jace was beginning to get anxious. He was practically humming with nervous energy as the two of them made their way to the short line that had built up outside the club.

They didn't need to talk, they had already decided on their course of action; Alec would hang back while Jace approached the bar and presented the owner with the warrant. If Malachi didn't put up a fight, they could be out of there with the computer in 10 minutes. He really hoped Malachi didn't do something stupid, but if he was smart he would cooperate, make it look like he had nothing to hide. If he got himself arrested, he would be no use to the people he had to warn.

"I guess it's show time", Jace muttered in his ear as they made their way to the front of the queue. The two of them were being careful not to enter at the same time, they wanted to minimise the chance that Malachi would piece together the fact that they were working together. If he was going to warn his accomplices that they were being investigated, they wanted to make sure that at least one of them wouldn't be recognisable; after all, it might be one of the only ways they can access the information they needed.

A quick look at the bar showed Alec that Maia wasn't working at the moment; instead there was an older man in his sixties with greying hair and dark brown eyes. Alec thought that he could see part of a tattoo peeking out of the top of his collared shirt, but he wasn't too sure. Instead, he focused on the way his brother walked confidently up to the bar, quickly getting his police badge as he said something to Malachi. Alec couldn't hear what it was, but the next thing he saw was Jace pulling the warrant out of his jacket pocket and Malachi looking slightly wide-eyed at his brother before a calm mask made its way on to his face and he motioned for Jace to follow him to the back office.

Alec hated watching as his brother left his sight, but they had a plan and Alec was going to stick to it. Jace had a maximum of 15 minutes to get the computer and load it in the car before Alec would follow him and make sure he wasn't in any trouble. He supposed he looked slightly suspicious to the other customers, standing at the back of a busy bar alone and without a drink; but he didn't really care. The minutes dragged by painfully slowly, and the more Alec kept an eye on his watch, the slower time seemed to move.

Jace's 15 minutes had been and gone two minutes ago, and Alec was just about to go and find him when he heard the faint chime of his phone. Fishing his mobile out of his jacket pocket, he was relieved to see the message from Jace:

 _All done. Waiting in the car._

Alec wasted no time in leaving; making sure that Malachi was still safely in the back room. His brother had left the car on a side street about five minutes away, and Alec walked briskly to ensure that they could leave as soon as possible. When he reached the black Audi, Alec was glad to see that his brother looked unharmed. For the first time that night, he could breathe a sigh of relief.

Alec barely waited for his brother to get the car in gear before he started questioning hm. "So what happened?"

* * *

20 minutes ago

Jace took a deep breath as he made his way to the older man at the bar. He wasn't sure why he was nervous, he'd arrested hundreds of people, had to search thousands of homes, cars, or computers, but this was the first time he was anxious. Perhaps it was because he was doing this for his brother and he knew how seriously Alec took his work. He had made mistakes in the past and he had beaten himself up for them, but this time, if he got it wrong, he wouldn't just be disappointing himself, he'd be disappointing Alec as well. He pushed the thought aside as he reached the bar, waiting for the older gentleman to finish serving some customers before discreetly getting his police badge out of his pocket and showing it to him.

"My name's Jace Wayland, I have a warrant to seize and search your computer and CCTV archives". He spoke quietly, making sure that no one was listening; Burrows had been very clear yesterday that this investigation had to be discreet.

"May I ask what this is about?"

Jace had to give it to him, Malachi was good. He used just enough confusion to suggest innocence, but not so much that he looked like he was trying to hide something. But this didn't matter to Jace; he had been working in the police for 18 years and had long ago learnt to recognise when he was being lied to. Malachi fell into the category of liars who held eye contact for too long, as if they were trying to prove their innocence by not looking away.

"You can, but I am not at liberty to discuss it out here."

"Then I suppose you best follow me."

Jace followed as the other man came around the bar and started walking towards a locked door located on the right hand side of the room. Neither of them spoke until the door was closed behind them, and Jace wasn't surprised to see that Malachi was a lot less friendly than he had been out in the bar. A small part of him wished that Malachi would try to hurt him, at least then they could arrest him and try to prevent him from warning potential suspects.

"So, _Officer_ ", Jace didn't think his tone could get more condescending. "Care to tell me what this is about?"

"We have reason to believe that, 18 years ago, you deliberately deleted CCTV footage and lied to investigating officers in order to obscure the course of justice. We believe that an examination of your computer may reveal whether these assumptions are correct or not."

Jace believed it was best to be blunt, especially if you were working to a time limit and had an overprotective older brother next door who tended to automatically think the worst.

"I have nothing to hide, but as you can probably appreciate, CCTV is quite important for a club. High levels of alcohol usually lead to some sort of trouble, and if something serious was to happen, I would need it as evidence. I can't do that without the computer. So if you could come back tomorrow morning; that would be much more convenient".

"Mr Dieudonne, I am sure you can understand that that is just not possible. A lot can happen in a night, and how can I be sure that everything will be as I find it now? I'm afraid you'll have to let me take the computer now. Where have you stored all your CCTV footage? On the computer, or on separate tapes?"

"I don't have to tell you that", Dieudonne hissed out, his eyes narrowing.

"No, you don't", Jace conceded. "But I do have a warrant for them, and I will search until I find them. So why don't you save us all the time and tell me where they are stored? Unless of course, you actually do have something you're trying to hide?"

"Of course I don't". Malachi's smile was forced now, as if maintaining an air of innocence was becoming difficult. "Everything is stored on the computer."

"And how long have you had this computer?"

"Twenty years, it's always worked fine so I saw no need to change it."

"Wonderful. If you could just step aside, I'll unplug it and be on my way."

Jace was conscious of the time, he had already used up half of the time Alec allotted him and the car was parked 5 minutes away. Being burdened with the computer would probably just slow him down more.

"Or I could arrest you for refusing to cooperate and obstructing an investigation", Jace added as Malachi looked like he was going to protest.

Once he was happy that Malachi wasn't going to get in his way, Jace headed towards the computer, turning the monitor off before unplugging it and placing everything in a large box he saw by the front door. He was glad that the threat of arrest had quietened Malachi; he was seriously beginning to have enough of him.

"Thank you Mr Dieudonne, your cooperation is appreciated. I will return the computer as soon as we no longer require it."

"Of course", Malachi forced out as he opened the fire exit for him.

As Jace predicted, the walk back to the car took a bit longer than five minutes whilst he was burdened with the computer, and he winced when he opened his phone to text Alec and saw that he had gone a little over the 15 minutes. He really hoped that Alec wasn't about to do something stupid. It didn't take long, but he thought a lifetime had passed before he saw his brother's tall figure walking briskly towards the car. They only had time for a quick smile before Alec asked him what happened.

* * *

"Wait", Alec said once Jace had finished recounting what had happened in the office. "You're telling me that Malachi actually thought that you would leave the computer with him and come back in the morning?"

"Yep".

Alec couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head in disbelief. "The nerve of some people."

"I know; right smarmy git he was. I'm telling you, he's told everyone by now."

"Urgh, I know", Alec groaned in frustration, pulling out his phone when he heard it chime.

"Simon says he just got to my house".

"Well, here's hoping our journey wasn't for nothing", Jace replied as he turned into Alec's road.

When they reached Alec's driveway they saw Simon's silver car parked by the side of the road, the bespectacled man sat on the bonnet as he waited.

"Simon! I'm sorry to keep you out this late", Alec called as he climbed out of his brother's car.

"Don't worry about it", Simon replied as he walked towards the two brothers, watching as Jace pulled a large box out of the boot.

"Well I'm not letting you drive back this late; you're staying with me tonight. Both of you."

Simon just shrugged as he followed Alec into the house, holding the door open for the blond behind him. "As long as I get the guestroom".

There were a few moments of silence as Jace took out the computer, setting it on Alec's desk and plugging it into the socket underneath.

"So," Simon eventually drawled. "Now do I get to know what's going on?"

"Sure", Alec replied as he threw himself on the sofa. "We are reinvestigating the Magnus Bane case and we need you to work your computer magic and see if the club deleted any CCTV footage."

Alec watched amusedly as Simon's mouth dropped open and his eyes grew comically large. "Magnus Bane? Seriously? Man, this is going to be huge when it gets out."

"Which is precisely why it isn't; okay Simon?"

"My lips are sealed".

"So can you help or not?" Alec rolled his eyes at Jace's bluntness.

"I can try. I mean, it's been what 17, 18 years? There's no guarantee the file could still be in one piece, or that it was even there to begin with".

"What does that mean?"

"Well," Simon pulled out some equipment he had brought with him and started typing things into the computer that Alec couldn't understand. "If you delete a file it stays on the hard drive, but over time it might start to be overwritten by other information. If the owner of this computer had the foresight to delete the file off of the hard drive as well, then it's gone."

"Just see what you can do, I guess".

It was an agonising hour for Alec, who oscillated between sitting on the sofa nervously bouncing a leg up and down or pacing his living room, biting not too gently on his lip. He was so lost in his nerves, that Simon's excited "got ya", almost gave him a heart attack.

"Wait, you found something?" As always, it was Jace who recovered quickest.

"Yep. The date in the corner says the 7th July 2000; that was the day you needed, yes?"

"Did you get a complete file?" Alec couldn't help his growing excitement as he made his way over to the man sat in front of the computer.

"I'm afraid not. The file's not big enough for 8 hours of footage so I'd say in total we probably managed to recover two hours. We won't know what's in it until we watch it though."

With that, Alec and Jace pulled some chairs over to the computer desk and watched as Simon navigated the footage. It was clear that the sections that had been lost were random; they seemed to be missing an hour or so from the beginning, and as they watched, they kept seeing significant time jumps. It was as they were approaching the last bits of footage, his hope falling as Alec realised that the remaining footage may not have anything of Magnus in it, when Alec called out for Simon to pause the footage.

Alec couldn't believe what he was seeing; he couldn't have made a better shot if he tried. There, on the dance floor was Magnus. It was purely a coincidence, but somehow they had managed to get a shot of him looking at the camera face on. No one could deny that Magnus was there anymore. Alec shared a smile with his brother, for although it was only the start of what they needed, it was a significant step forward. It was concrete proof that the original investigation had been bungled somehow.

It was the tiniest piece of footage. After seeing that image, they watched the rest of the file, only to find that there were no other shots of Magnus available. But still, no matter how small it was, it was a huge step on the path to Magnus' freedom.


	9. 10th August 2018

**A/N -** Hi everyone! Here's the next instalment.

To my guest reviewers: Thank you for your reviews! I'm glad you all enjoy my story, and don't worry Simon will feature again.

 **Disclaimer:** Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

"Magnus, I'm so sorry I've dragged you into a meeting so early."

It was 9AM and Alec was sat in the prison meeting room, smiling at a clearly sleep deprived Magnus who had just entered the room. Truth be told, Alec felt just as tired as Magnus looked, and the large black coffees he had been buying himself just weren't having much of an impact anymore. Alec knew he wouldn't have been so tired if he had a proper sleep last night, but by the time he had gone through the footage and decided what he was going to do about it, it was already 2AM and he knew he would have to be up at 7 to get here for 9. His insomnia wasn't helped by the difficult decision he had been forced to make last night; he just hoped that Magnus didn't resent him for it.

"Don't worry about it Alec", Magnus' gentle voice dragged Alec away from his thoughts and back to the present. "If I'm honest with you, I've not really been sleeping very well so I had already been awake for an hour when they told me you were coming."

Alec wasn't surprised; a lot of the people he worked with often found themselves suffering sleepless nights once his work started. He supposed the influx of stress and emotion takes its toll on his clients as much as it does with him.

"Reopening a closed case is tough, isn't it?" Alec gave Magnus what he hoped was a sympathetic smile.

"You have no idea", Magnus breathed out looking relieved at the idea that someone understood. "All these years I have resigned myself to the fact that I would never be allowed out of this prison again, but now there's an actual chance that I might be released and sometimes it's just too much. I try so hard not to get my hopes up because I know it will hurt more if you can't do anything, but when I sleep my mind can't stop dreaming of all the possible things I could do with my freedom. I find myself counting down days, wondering when I could get out, but I really don't want to do that."

Alec really hoped that he didn't look too guilty. Before coming here he already hated the fact that he would build up Magnus' hope only to dash it almost immediately, and now he knew what Magnus had been thinking of, he felt even worse. Sometimes, he could really hate his job.

"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do to stop your hope from growing Magnus, but only you can decide how to use it. How about I take your mind off of your case for a while?"

It was only after he said that, when Magnus raised an eyebrow at him and smirked playfully that he realised just how suggestive that last sentence sounded. "Would you get your mind out of the gutter? I didn't mean it like that; I simply meant how about we talk about something else for a little while?"

"Like what?" Alec could see that Magnus still looked amused, but Alec would take that as long as he never had to look at dull, lifeless eyes again.

"I don't really know. You can ask me some questions if you want. I'm still waiting for Jace to call me so we can't really start any proper work until he does".

Alec saw the confused look at the mention of the phone call, but just as Magnus opened his mouth to ask a question, he closed it again almost immediately. Alec was glad that Magnus seemed to trust him, if only a little.

"Okay. Um, I know you have Jace, but any other siblings?"

Alec always loved being asked about his siblings, he was exceptionally proud of all of them.

"Well, I'm the oldest..."

"I guessed that", Magnus cut in.

"How?"

"I don't know. You just have a very caring vibe about you. I can see you as an older brother."

"Well, there's me, and then there's Jace and Izzy. They're both 36, but Jace is adopted. Izzy is a forensic scientist, but she's not attached to a particular police force. You already know what Jace does, so I won't go over that again. And then there's Max, he's 26 and a satirical cartoonist. If you read a lot of newspapers you might have seen some of his work around."

Alec could see the gears turning in Magnus' head as he thought. "I never really paid much attention to the cartoons, but I'll keep an eye out from now on."

There was a pause as the other man thought about another question. Alec could pinpoint the exact moment that Magnus thought of it by the doubt and hesitation that crept into his green eyes.

"Go ahead and ask Magnus", Alec encouraged. "If I don't want to answer I'll just say so, but I won't be upset with you asking."

"You know I studied the history of art because I wanted to protect work from theft and damage, but I was wondering why you wanted to study law."

Magnus looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he bit down on his lower lip as if to physically prevent himself from speaking. Alec wanted to answer him, but at the moment is mind wasn't in the meeting room. Instead it had gone back 21 years to a time that never seemed to leave him alone.

" _Come back inside, Alec." His mother spoke gently, as if she was afraid of scaring him off, whilst holding an oversized umbrella over his head._

 _Alec shook his head, no. He didn't want to go inside; he wanted to stay with his Uncle._

" _It's not right, Mum. Someone should have done something. It's not fair." Alec heard his voice break but he didn't care; nothing much mattered to him in that moment._

" _I know it's not Sweetie", his mother replied as she pulled him up and into a one armed hug. "But you sitting out here in the rain won't make everything okay. It's not right, but right now, you can't make it so; especially if you just sit out here all the time"._

"Alec?"

Magnus' concerned voice brought Alec blinking back into reality, his eyebrows raised in confusion as Magnus looked worriedly at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine", Alec replied quickly. "I guess I just always wanted to be able to put things right when they go wrong. I haven't always been able to do that, but I guess everyone deserves someone to at least _try_. So that's what I promised myself I'd do; I'd try to fight for people when no one else wants to".

Magnus was just about to ask him another question when his phone rang, and Alec all but jumped out of the chair to go outside to answer it. "Excuse me a minute", he said quickly to Magnus as he slipped out of the door, telling the guards that he wasn't finished yet. He answered the phone just as it would have rung off.

"Jace; what do you have for me?"

" _Nothing good I'm afraid."_

Alec's face fell. "What does that mean?" Alec wasn't sure he wanted to know.

" _It means you were right. You know, I even convinced Burrows to give me two extra guys just for an hour or two so we could go to Camille's shop and her house at the same time this morning. But if there was anything that explicitly implicated her, it's not there now. She must've been warned. He phone is new so we have no records and we couldn't find the old one in either location. Simon was still at your house so we checked the laptop but she's cleared it properly this time, there was nothing on there either. The diary's gone. The only thing we found was paperwork concerning the business, you know expenditure, imports of stock, sales."_

"Shit", Alec said trying to be quiet so as not to alarm the prisoner in the room behind him. "I knew this would happen". He had a sudden, violent urge to punch the wall behind him, but he forced himself to calm down. This was not a brick wall, just a wooden fence and sometimes they can come crashing down at the slightest disturbance. "Then we will go through that sales list with a fine comb, we will look at whether there were regular cash payments or regular card payments and we will take whatever we can from it. Okay?"

" _Yes boss...Um, there's something else I have to tell you, but I don't want to do it over the phone. Come straight to mine when you're finished, in the meantime I'll start to go through the lists we have, see what pops up then. Have you told Bane what you decided yet?"_

"No", Alec reluctantly admitted. "He looked exhausted and said he couldn't sleep well so I thought I would distract him for a while by talking about something unrelated to the case, but if I'm honest it's more because I chickened out. I'll tell him now and then I'll come see you. I should be there in no more than an hour and a half okay?"

" _See you in a bit brother."_

Once he ended the call, Alec took a minute to compose himself before he went back into the room. He mustn't have done a very good job, because the second he walked in, the small smile that Magnus had been sporting disappeared and was replaced with a worried frown.

"Bad news I take it?" Magnus spoke before Alec had even sat himself in his chair, and it looked like he was doing everything he could to prepare himself for the worst. If he was being honest, that fact broke Alec's heart.

"Yes", Alec admitted. He wasn't going to lie to the other man; in the long run it did nothing but harm. "But I completely expected it. I told you the last time I was here that when we start making a move, people will start covering their tracks. My brother was just dealing with Camille, and it appears she has covered her tracks very well. I'm going to his house after this to see what we can find in her sales records, but I don't think it'll be very revealing."

"But if she's covering her tracks that means you made the first move right? Did you manage to find anything?"

The hopeful look in Magnus' eyes was too strong, and Alec found that he couldn't look at it. Instead, he stared at a small coffee stain on the table.

"Do you trust me", Alec asked instead.

Magnus immediately replied "yes".

"I know I probably should have consulted you before I made up my mind, but I really think this is the right thing to do."

Alec paused to gather his thoughts as he forced himself to look into Magnus' green eyes, clouded slightly with apprehension. "We went to Pandemonium last night, got a warrant to take the computer and look at the CCTV records. My brother-in-law is a computer expert so we got him to have a look and see if he could recover anything. And it is by no means a complete file, it's only two or three seconds, but we do have undeniable proof that you were at the club that night."

"That proves I didn't do it right?" The hope was back in Magnus' eyes and Alec really hated what he had to do next.

"No".

In all his years as a barrister, Alec had seen people upset. He had seen them distraught, heartbroken, and hopeless. Until now, he would have said that if you could name an emotion, he had probably seen it on someone. But he had never really seen someone crumble, and it was terrifying. It was terrifying to see how one word could completely destroy everything a person believed in; it was a power that Alec sometimes wished he didn't have.

"Oh", Magnus' voice was small.

"I told you the footage was incomplete. We have a picture of you at 3AM; the estimated time of death was between 5 and 5:30 AM. Any competent prosecutor would argue that this new footage doesn't prove your innocence; you would still have ample time to get to Etta's house. What it does show is that Camille and Malachi were deliberately lying which is a criminal offence. It also suggests that if we took it to court soon, we might be able to convince the judges to overturn the conviction on the grounds of it being unsafe."

Alec took a deep breath, and before Magnus could build his hope again he said "but I'm not going to". He could see that Magnus was going to complain, hell, who wouldn't when they were told there was a chance they could be released from a maximum security prison soon, only for their barrister to say they weren't going to take it?

"Hear me out Magnus you said you trusted me." Alec waited for Magnus' reluctant nod before he continued. "I need Camille and Malachi out of jail. As long as they are concealing their involvement, they're more likely to inadvertently reveal information I need if I can follow them in their day to day lives. Trust me, once I have what I need they will be arrested.

As for not looking to get your conviction labelled unsafe, there's no guarantee the judge would agree on such little evidence. You also need to remember that being released because of an unsafe conviction is not the same as being proven innocent. Everywhere you go there will still be people who think you are guilty, that you were only let off on a technicality. I don't want that for you Magnus. I want to show the world that you are innocent, but it's going to take me some more time to do that. But I do work for you, and if you want me to submit what I have to a judge I can go and do that this afternoon, I just don't think it's a very good idea."

Alec waited in silence as Magnus thought about what he said. The hands on the large clock in the room ticked slowly, and before Alec knew it, 15 minutes had passed in complete silence.

"Okay", Magnus eventually said, looking into Alec's eyes with serious green ones. "I said I trust you, and I do. If you think it's best I wait, then I'll wait. And if in the end you can't prove my innocence, and you can only get me out on an unsafe conviction, then I guess I'll just have to put up with people doubting me. Absolutely anything is worse than this hell."

Magnus looked so sad in that moment, that before he had thought about it, Alec had grasped one of his hands and held it in both of his, squeezing it a little to get Magnus to look at him.

"Thank you for trusting me. And remember what you promised me; no giving up, okay?"

"Alright".

"I better go and meet with Jace, see what we can get from the sales list. Don't worry about the setbacks okay, there're still plenty of roads for me to take."

Magnus stood with Alec this time instead of remaining seated.

"I won't", Alec was pleased with how assured he sounded, even if his eyes were still drastically sad. "You did warn me it might happen. Take care of yourself, Alec."

"You too Magnus; please talk to someone if you find it hard to cope with what we're doing."

Alec didn't think as he pulled the other man into a quick hug. He just looked so sad, that Alec thought he deserved someone to comfort him, if just for a minute. When they pulled back, Alec pretended that he didn't see how wet Magnus' eyes were. Instead he just waved a little and made his way back out of the prison.

He found that he couldn't immediately bring himself to go and work with his brother so he took a detour on the way back, grabbing himself a coffee as he sat in the park and tried to prepare himself for the next load of hard work. It was because of this break that he only turned up to his brother's house after four hours.

"So what happened to an hour and a half max?" Alec hadn't even gotten through the threshold of his brother's house before he was questioned.

Alec just shrugged his shoulders. "I took longer than expected, sorry. But I brought you cake", he held the white paper bag out as a peace offering.

"Well, I at least managed to go through all the sales information we found."

"And..." Alec prompted as his brother took a huge bite of a white chocolate and raspberry muffin.

"Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No alarmingly regular payments from the same card. A few occurred four or five times, but never in large amounts and there was never the same amount of time between purchases so I assumed that they just really liked the antiques there. All I found were cash payments of at least £1000 that occurred every three months, but there's no record of who it could belong to, so it basically counts for nothing. I don't know how we're supposed to trace the items they bought since there's no note of the shop itself doing deliveries."

"Fantastic", Alec replied sarcastically as he collapsed onto the sofa. "This is not turning out to be the day I was hoping for."

"Oh it gets worse", Jace called out from the kitchen. He returned a minute later with two beers and passed one to Alec before sitting down next to him.

"Do your worst", Alec replied resignedly.

"Don't be mad, but I might have done something a little reckless."

Alec shot a quick concerned glance at his brother. "That depends on what the 'something' is."

"Well", Jace shifted uncomfortably, "I thought that the video footage would be solid enough proof to convince Burrows that something must've gone wrong with the original investigation so I decided to ask if I could get a warrant to search Hodge's house..."

"YOU WHAT?" Alec was so angry. Scrap that, he was furious. "I swear Jace, if you've ruined this investigation."

"Don't worry Alec. He did say no but he promised he still wouldn't mention anything to Hodge. He also said that if we give him concrete proof of Hodge's involvement then he would be more than happy to give us the warrant."

"So what's the bad news?"

Alec was wary when he asked, but it had been a terrible day, and if his brother wasn't happy with telling him over the phone then it must've been really bad. This assumption was only confirmed when Jace put down his beer and turned to face Alec fully, his face careful as if he was approaching an easily spooked animal. Alec tried to prepare himself for the worst, but he still wasn't prepared for what Jace said.

"He said, and I quote here, 'are you just pursuing Hodge because he was the officer in charge of the investigation into your uncle?'"


	10. 16th November 1995

**A/N-** Hi everyone! We have a flashback chapter today ALTHOUGH **WARNING: suicide is very heavily implied in this chapter**. So please don't read if you feel like you can't, it goes to Alec's backstory rather than the plot itself so the rest of the story will still make sense.

Dear guest - thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying my story.

 **Disclaimer:** Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

Alec didn't like the walk through the metal scanners; he was always concerned that he might've forgotten to take something out of his pocket and he'd set it off by accident. He didn't like having to let the guards search all of his pockets; even if they did check him quickly he was never really comfortable with having strangers too close to him. He _really_ didn't like having to let them look in his mouth to make sure that he wasn't smuggling any drugs in.

He could just about tolerate the guards' attitude and the air of distrust they carried. Most of the guards looked at him suspiciously, as if they couldn't figure out why a fifteen year old would voluntarily come to visit relatives by themselves. He couldn't blame them; most of the other young people he often saw here were always accompanied by an adult. Alec thought that maybe if he had someone to come with him he wouldn't find the whole procedure so daunting, but his mum was looking after Max and his dad always refused before he could even finish asking, so he was always left alone.

He couldn't tolerate the looks of pity some of the other visitors gave him though. He came every other week, and by this point he could start identifying familiar faces while they waited in the visitors' room. Sometimes some of the women there (he often thought that maybe they were mothers and didn't like seeing him there alone) would give him sympathetic smiles, as if they felt sorry for him. But Alec didn't like that; _he_ wasn't the one that people should be feeling sorry for. But he was always the only one to receive it.

Alec hated the way that other people would look at his uncle as he walked in, the way that some of the other prisoners would sneer at him as if reminding his uncle of some threat that Alec was not aware of. He hated the way that the other visitors would look away quickly as his uncle passed their chairs, only to look back again once he passed like he was an exhibit in a zoo; a dangerous, unpredictable exhibit whose reputation preceded him.

What Alec _really_ hated was the way that sometimes his uncle would be limping as he made his way to his chair, or the way that he would sometimes wince as he went to sit down, his hand quickly holding onto his ribs as he huffed out his pain. Sometimes it was worse though; sometimes he had a lot of bruising to his face, and one time he even had his wrist in a cast. He never told Alec what happened, so Alec never asked.

But what Alec hated more than anything was the way his uncle never smiles properly anymore, the way his eyes have dulled and dulled until his dark eyes showed no signs of the enthusiasm he had once been known for. He tries to make sure that Alec doesn't notice any of this, and Alec's touched by how much his uncle is trying to protect him but it doesn't work and Alec wished there was something he could do to make it better.

"Hello Uncle Benedict". Alec always tried to greet his uncle happily, but he could always tell that when his uncle hugged him and said hello back that the cheerfulness in his voice was fake, was for Alec's own benefit.

"Hello Kiddo".

They sat in silence for a couple of moments as his uncle watched him, and Alec had to admit that he was growing increasingly uncomfortable; his uncle had never looked at him like that before, as if he was trying to commit every inch of his face to memory.

"I could swear you've grown in the two weeks since I saw you last, how tall are you now?"

"I'm five-ten now", Alec replied with a proud smile.

"Hmm, I think you'll be taller than Robert soon enough." There was a brief pause. "Speaking of my brother, I can see that he still wasn't able to make it."

"Yeah, um he was pretty uh...busy today. I know he feels bad about it though".

Alec hated lying, he was terrible at it and it always made him feel guilty. But he didn't want his uncle to feel worse. The truth was his father, just as he had the last five years since his uncle was sent to prison, refused to come and Alec didn't know why. He had tried asking his father several times but he always turned away from him and claimed he was too busy to talk now. Alec could tell that his uncle never believed what Alec told him, but he was grateful that he never called him out on his lies.

"That's a shame", his uncle chose to respond with instead. "You send him my love okay? To everyone."

"I always do. Did you like the book I sent you?"

Alec's uncle had always loved philosophy; he had gained his undergraduate degree in philosophy and theology and had then spent a couple of years studying at some of Europe's oldest universities. His uncle was the smartest person Alec had ever met, and honestly he was his hero; he always had been. He got to travel the world to teach others, and Alec couldn't imagine a better way to live life. Maybe that was why his uncle found it so hard in prison; he couldn't travel, he couldn't teach, and the prison was sorely lacking in books dedicated to philosophy. When Alec found that out he promised himself that he would send his uncle a book a week, and he hadn't missed a week in three years; even when he had a really bad chest infection and couldn't get out the house to see him. He hadn't been able to afford all of the books, so sometimes his Mum had to help. But Alec always paid her back, even if it meant doing the vacuuming and washing the dishes every day for a week.

"I loved it, thank you Alec. I've kept all of your books; no one's allowed to read them except me."

"That's a lot of books Uncle B, are you sure you have room for them all?"

The corner of his uncle's mouth turned up in a quick smile, but his eyes stayed as dull as ever. "I stack a lot of them under the bed, some in the corner of the room. The shelves in my room are almost collapsing from the amount I've forced on them, but I don't really mind if the room gets too cramped, they remind me of you whenever I see them."

Alec could feel the tears gathering in his eyes when his uncle declared this, but he wouldn't cry. His uncle was always being brave for him, so it was his turn to be brave as well.

"Enough about me", his Uncle suddenly declared, "I want to hear about you. How's the studying going?"

"Really well," Alec beamed. "We just did our second piece of English coursework and I got full marks _and_ my history teacher thinks I can get full marks in that as well I just have to restructure some of my paragraphs".

"Good, I'm proud of you my boy". Alec could see that he was; that for the first time today he wasn't pretending to feel something he didn't.

"I think I might have decided what I want to study at university", Alec said shyly.

"Already? Do you even know what you want to do for your A-levels?"

Alec just shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't hurt to have a long term plan". He suddenly found that he couldn't look his uncle in the eye.

"No it doesn't", Benedict conceded. "So what are you going to study?"

"I'm going to do law", Alec spoke softly but with conviction, his eyes never leaving the table. "And I'm going to be the best in my year so when I qualify I'll have loads of firms wanting to work with me and then I can help you. I will show everyone that you didn't kill that family."

Alec's words were followed by a heavy silence. Alec didn't know what his uncle was thinking because he was too scared to look up, but he knew that he wouldn't be dissuaded from his decision. His uncle was innocent, and it might be a while before Alec could do anything about it, but he wasn't just going to leave his uncle in prison. Unlike his father, Alec was _not_ going to sit back and do nothing.

"There's nothing you can do for me Alec". His uncle spoke with a sad smile, a smile that didn't reach his dull eyes.

"But Uncle Benedict..."

"No Alec. There's no one who can fight for me now. But you can fight for others, remember that. You have a good heart, the best heart of anybody I've ever met and I know the legal system needs people like you. You'll do great things when you're older Alec, and I'm already so proud of you. But you should only do this for _you_ , not because you think it might help me."

"I want to study law, Uncle B. Because there might be other people like you who are innocent and have no one to help them and if I don't there might be no one who will".

"Okay Alec", his uncle conceded.

Alec spent the rest of the hour filling his Uncle in on what his siblings were up to; he could see that his Uncle was amused by the fact that Alec didn't think his thirteen year old sister should be going out on dates. This time, he could tell his Uncle with conviction that his siblings really wanted to come, but Alec wouldn't let them. Alec may have been coming here since he was thirteen, but he didn't think his siblings should; the prison was a scary place and Alec didn't want them to get used to that. Besides, Max was only three he doesn't even _know_ who Uncle Benedict is; he just wanted to go where Alec went. Still, Alec could see it was enough for Uncle Benedict to know that his siblings wanted to come and would only agree to stay home if Alec promised to tell their Uncle everything they wanted him to.

When the guards said it was time to leave, his Uncle pulled him into another hug, but this one felt different to the others; his Uncle held on longer and tighter. He even kissed the top of his head; he'd never done that before.

"Now you look after yourself Kiddo, and take good care of your siblings. It's your job to protect them, to be there for them to make sure that they don't fall into the wrong crowds. I hope you know that I love you so much, all of you. You tell Robert that I'm not mad that he didn't come; I understand how hard it is, okay? Tell him that it wasn't his fault, and I never blamed him for a second. But most importantly, remember what I told you; you live your life for _you_. Don't fret about me. Do what makes you happy. All of you. Because as long as you are happy, I can be too."

"Okay", Alec agreed confused as to why his uncle was saying this, they usually just said goodbye and Alec promised to send him another book. "I'll send you another book in a couple of days." Alec paused for a second before looking at his uncle inquisitively. "I'll see you in two weeks, okay?" Even Alec could hear that he made it sound like a question.

"Of course", his uncle only paused for a second. "Now get yourself going. I love you Kiddo".

"I love you too, Uncle B."

With that Alec left. He and his Uncle had made a rule a couple of years ago which said that Alec wasn't allowed to turn back when he walked out, but this time he wished he did. He wished he had listened to his concerns when he thought them, instead of brushing them aside and insisting that everything was okay, because it very clearly wasn't and deep down Alec knew.

Maybe that's why he didn't turn back, even though for the first time, a loud voice in his head was screaming at him to turn back and get one last look at his uncle before he left. Because deep down, Alec _did_ know; he knew that today would be the last time he would see his uncle. And if it was, he wanted his last image to be of his uncle saying he loved him with a small smile that finally reached his eyes.

Because deep down he knew that today his uncle was saying goodbye.


	11. 11th August 2018

**A/N -** Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, I hope you all have a lovely holiday season. Just to let you know, ( **warning** ) ** mentions of suicide** continue in this chapter as well.

 **Disclaimer** \- Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

Magnus was beginning to get used to the impromptu nature of Alec's visits, and while he would appreciate a little bit of warning, he started to find himself thinking about when his next visit would be. Magnus had never met anyone as dedicated to their job as Alec was, and although Alec tended to bring more bad news than good, Magnus always looked forward to seeing the passion in his eyes when he talked about something he cared about, or the way he bit his lip whenever he concentrated on the notes he was writing down. In short, Magnus was beginning to admit to himself that he was attracted to his barrister; not that he would ever act on it (after all, it would be highly unprofessional). Still, Alec was hot and Magnus had eyes and let's face it, he didn't have many gorgeous people he could freely look at here. Yet, as much as he loved meeting with Alec, he wasn't expecting to see him so soon after his last visit.

"Two visits in two days? Why Alexander, I'm beginning to think that maybe you can't stay away from me."

 _Magnus Bane, why are you flirting with your barrister?_ He tried to reprimand himself, he really did, but seeing Alec blush a gorgeous shade of red when he did flirt was completely worth it. He wasn't even sure if he had seen that colour before; maybe he would name it after the other man.

"Well", Alec coughed a little as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "My brother went through all the paperwork he had taken from Camille and it's as we expected; it's of little to no real value to us. But we do have one lead we want to work on right now and we were wondering if you could help."

To say that Magnus was beginning to get disheartened again was an understatement. It always seemed that whenever Alec came to tell him something good (like the case being opened, or there being proof that Camille and Malachi lied) he always followed it with some caveat which inevitably lead to Magnus remaining behind bars. In all honesty, it was getting very difficult to not just give up and call it a day. But he trusted the other man, and he had promised he would not give up. Magnus found that the more time he spent with Alec, the more he found himself not wanting to let him down.

"I'll certainly try", Magnus replied.

"Do the initials 'V.M' mean anything to you? I saw it in Camille's planner before it conveniently went missing, and I wondered if she ever mentioned someone with those initials to you."

"Camille always made sure that she never spoke about her business to me, and I was expressly forbidden from her shop if she had any important meetings going on. But she did sometimes mention someone called 'Val'; I don't know if that's a nickname or their full name. Sorry I can't give you anything more concrete."

Magnus added that last sentence because he could see on Alec's face that this was not what he needed to hear. He could also see that Alec tried his hardest for Magnus not to see his disappointment, but Magnus guessed that the downside to being an honest person meant that you could never truly hide how you felt. Magnus appreciated that; after all it was nothing but lies and deceit that had led to his current predicament.

"Don't apologise Magnus, it's not your fault. I can work with Val; at least it gives us something to lead with. Our next stop is to get my sister to reanalyse the forensic evidence they had. Unfortunately she's busy today and tomorrow, but she's given me the two days after that. According to her, 17 years counts for a lot in terms of technological advancements; apparently their telescope thingies are a lot more powerful now. Chances are she might see something that they just couldn't get in the first trial."

"And if she doesn't?"

Alec just shrugged his shoulders. "Then Jace and I will find another avenue to go down. I told you, the further we get, the more digging we'll have to do. But don't worry; Izzy is very good at her job. I remember when she finished her degree, she ran straight to my house to declare that she got the highest marks her university had ever seen, I can't even tell you how many job offers she received that week. You're in very safe hands; I wouldn't trust you with anyone else."

Magnus could feel the sting of tears at the back of his eyes; he was touched that there were so many people who were willing to help him. _Well_ , the rational part of his mind tried to remind him, _they're probably really only helping Alec._ Still, whether for Alec or not, what they did was, at the end of the day, for _his_ benefit. Plus, even if the others weren't too concerned about him, he could see that Alec cared. Although looking closely at Alec now; at the way his shoulders slumped, the way his hair sat dishevelled and at the bags under his eyes that were painted a deep purple, Magnus was beginning to question whether Alec cared a little more than was healthy for him.

"Are you okay Alec?"

Alec gave him a startled (slightly guilty?) look. "Oh yeah, just tired."

Magnus didn't think when he took hold of one of Alec's hands, gladly noting in the back of his mind that the barrister didn't move his hand away. "That look is not 'just tired' Alec, it's absolutely exhausted. I told you I'm content to wait as long as it takes, but you have to promise me that you'll look after yourself. No more working at stupidly early hours so you can get everything done in one day instead of two. In case you haven't noticed, I'm serving life behind bars; even if it took you five years, it would still be a better outcome than I am currently facing. I just don't want you to make yourself ill, okay?"

The sad smile that Alec gave him almost broke his heart and upset him almost as much as Alec pulling his hand back did. Magnus wanted to comfort the blue eyed man, but he wasn't sure what would be appropriate, so instead he sat and watched helplessly as Alec ran that same hand through his unruly black hair several times.

"I promised I'd tell you why justice is important to me, why I'm so willing to help you, once I thought it became relevant. Well, I was recently told some information that has led me to believe that it is indeed relevant."

He did try to wait for Alec to speak on his own terms, but five minutes passed in silence, and Magnus had noted that Alec suddenly found the wall behind him very interesting. It became clear then, that Alec would need prompting if he was ever going to hear what the barrister wanted to say.

"You know Alec you really don't have to tell me if you don't want to".

"No I think I do".

Magnus watched Alec compose himself, watched as he sat up straighter and visibly forced himself to look Magnus in the eye. He looked so vulnerable, that Magnus didn't second guess himself when he went to hold his hand again.

"When I was ten, my uncle was arrested for an attack on the Whitelaws; they said he murdered five people of the same family. I don't know why they said he did it, but I knew they were wrong; he was a kind, gentle man. He couldn't have done it, but no one believed him. When I turned 13 I started visiting him, and I remember he always looked so sad and defeated. I didn't like seeing him like that, so when I turned 15 I promised myself that I would become a barrister, and I would help all the people like him; all the people who were innocent and had no one who believed them. I wanted to help him, but I was too late".

Magnus watched as tears started to fall silently down Alec's cheeks, fighting back his own tears as Alec's voice broke on the word 'late'. He had a fairly good idea about what happened next, but he felt that maybe Alec needed to get the whole thing off of his chest.

"Why were you too late Alec?" He tried to ask gently, but he could still see the way Alec flinched.

"All the fight he had in him was gone. I'm just thankful that I got to see him the day before he died; I think he knew I needed to say goodbye, even if I thought it would only be for two weeks. They never said how he did it, and I didn't want to know, so I never asked."

Alec stopped talking as he wiped the tears from his face with the red handkerchief sat in his suit pocket. Magnus could see now why it was so important to Alec that he carried on fighting, and he vowed not to cause Alec any more pain; he would not be the reason why those beautiful blue eyes were filled with so much sorrow.

"Why did you tell me this Alec?"

"Because Chief Burrows let slip to Jace that Hodge, the officer in charge of your case, was in charge of my uncle's case. I got to thinking that if you're innocent and my uncle was innocent, then maybe the people who set you up were the same people who framed my uncle."

There was a stunned silence after Alec's conclusion, and Magnus took the minute to curse the universe for making Alec relive what were clearly the worst events of his life. He really didn't want to ask the next question, but he thought it was a logical course of reasoning.

"If your sister can't find anything new with the evidence, do you think it's worth looking into your uncle's case a bit?"

"Yes I think so", Magnus was proud of the way Alec's voice was only a little unsteady. "The only problem is there's no way we could get that reopened and we can't say anything against Starkweather until we have concrete proof. Our best bet is my dad. I've always thought he knows a lot more than he's letting on, but he's never said anything and I don't think he's going to start doing so now."

"Don't worry Alec I know you'll find a way to get what you need. Is there anything else you needed to see me for?"

Magnus internally prayed that Alec would say yes, so he wouldn't have to say goodbye so soon, but he could see that Alec was drained; emotionally now as well as physically. It would be selfish to ask him to stay, but that didn't stop a small part of him wishing Alec would want to stay and ask more about him, maybe find out if they had anything in common.

 _Stop thinking like that; Alec's too professional to date a client._ It pained Magnus to admit it, but he knew that the world had to be ending for Alec to do anything that would seem improper.

"No, I believe I have all that I need for now." He went to stand, but Magnus grabbed his arm quickly to stop him rising.

"Alec, will you promise me something?"

"That depends on what it is."

"Don't work this afternoon, and if you have to work tomorrow at least limit yourself to reasonable hours. You'll burn yourself out otherwise, and I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

The smile that Alec gave him was truly beautiful; a little broken, a little happy, but overall grateful that Magnus cared.

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

"But I do Alexander. Promise me, no work today and sensible work tomorrow."

"Fine, I promise", Alec relented as he stood. "Now I really must go".

"Okay", Magnus replied as he stood. "I think your uncle would be so proud of you, Alec. You've already helped me so much, I don't think you'll ever realise how much".

Alec offered him a gentle smile. "That means a lot Magnus. Take care".

"You too, Alec", Magnus responded as he watched his barrister walk out of the door. For years, Magnus had wondered who had set him up, but now it seemed that the whole thing was far bigger than he had ever imagined. For the first time he was beginning to see the full extent of the challenges that faced him, and he couldn't stop the uneasy feeling that started settling in his stomach. He just knew that something was bound to go wrong, he just didn't know what.


	12. 13th-14th August 2018

**A/N-** Hi everyone! Happy new year, I hope you all have a great one. I hope you like this chapter, and as always let me know what you think or what could be better.

 **Disclaimer-** Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

"You know Jace warned me that you were bribing everyone with sweet treats", Isabelle addressed Alec in lieu of a greeting as he walked into her lab.

Alec rolled his eyes at his sister. "I wouldn't call it bribing, more like expressing my gratitude that my very busy siblings have taken time out of their busy schedules to help me. But I guess if you don't want the coconut pastries I went out of my way to get for you I can always eat them myself."

"Well, don't be too hasty", Izzy replied as she took the white bag out of her brother's hands and left to go and place it in what Alec assumed was her staff room. "But", his sister started as she re-entered the room and stood across from him, "I hope you know that we'd help even without the cake."

"I know Izzy, I really appreciate it", Alec said as he pulled his sister into a tight hug, stepping back once she patted him on the back in a signal that he was holding on just a little too much. It was times like this, when they all came together, that he really appreciated the relationship he had with his siblings. He had met many people who, for whatever reason, could never build a positive relationship with their brother or sister, and Alec couldn't imagine how difficult that must be. Alec knew he was incredibly fortunate to have two people he could trust to give their all to the tasks he delegated to them.

"Although actually Alec, I think I better thank you", his sister's voice dragged him out of his thoughts and he watched as she walked to the cupboard to pull out a pair of gloves that she put on before turning to the knife and jumper that had been sent to the laboratory. "At least you're keeping my life interesting. Imagine if I could say I helped get Magnus Bane out of prison? Would be damn good for business I'll tell you that."

Alec knew that his sister was only joking, but he couldn't help the sudden burst of anger that fired up inside him. Magnus had suffered so much already and he didn't deserve to be used as a means to something else, hell he didn't deserve for someone to even joke about it. It was time people started treating him as a person rather than an exhibit that was put out solely for their entertainment.

"He is a human being Isabelle", Alec heard himself reply angrily. "Not just a tool for all of us to boost our careers. He has thoughts and feelings, and if you met him you'd know that he wouldn't have done it. He's always kind to me, always telling me to make sure I sleep properly and I do not appreciate you speaking as if he was just a way for you to improve your already impressive career. I know you're probably only joking, and if you're not then I am incredibly disappointed right now, but he's suffered enough. We're the only people fighting for him now, and I want to make sure he knows that people care about him and not what they can get out of him."

There was a beat of silence when Alec finished his rant where his sister looked at him in the way only she ever could; as if she knew all his biggest, darkest secrets. The only sound that filled the room was Alec's harsh breaths as his lungs attempted to gather the oxygen he had denied himself whilst he was speaking.

Suddenly, a wicked grin broke across her face and Alec knew he was in trouble. He had seen that look before and it never ended well. The first time he had seen it was the morning after he had snuck out to go to a friend's party when he was 16 and somehow his sister had noticed the tiniest speck of glitter that had made its way into his hair .Really, Alec thought, he shouldn't have been surprised when she told him a couple of years later that she wanted to be a forensic scientist; she really did have an eye for detail. Sadly, that eye for detail, and that wicked grin combined into months of helping her hone her skills with a makeup brush as she threatened to tell their parents on him. Seeing that same smile on his sister's face now, Alec couldn't help the nerves that built up as he waited for what she was going to say.

"You like him", she declared simply.

If Alec was hoping to effectively counter his sister's assertion, his attempts at creating a convincing lie were hampered before he started speaking, Izzy's declaration having startled Alec to the extent he choked on air. "I most certainly do not", Alec sputtered indignantly once the coughing had subsided enough for him to speak. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"I know you", Izzy said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Your eyes lit up when you spoke about him, and you only really get that defensive over people you care about. I can't believe you like one of your clients, Jace won't believe it when I tell him."

"Jace won't have to believe anything because he's not going to know as you're going to keep quiet", Alec glared at his sister as she gave him an innocent smile that Alec did not believe at all. "Anyway, even if I _did_ like him, which I am _not_ admitting to, I wouldn't do anything about it. It would be highly improper. Could you imagine if the press caught wind of that? It'd probably make my entire case collapse. Not to mention the fact that it would probably ruin my career and no one would ever want to work with me again. No, it's best that everything between us stays strictly professional, and if there does happen to be any feelings, and this is not a confession by the way, then I'll just have to ignore them."

Alec saw the sympathetic look Izzy gave him, and he half expected her to carry on the topic of conversation as if she could convince him to jeopardise his entire career and bend the rules a little. Luckily his sister seemed content to move the conversation onto another topic. He knew that this respite would not last and that sooner or later Izzy, or indeed Jace if his sister betrayed him as Alec very much suspected she would, would corner him again. Now though, he was content to seize the escape his sister was offering.

"Speaking of newspapers", Izzy began, "I have been wondering how you've managed to keep your work out of the spotlight, I'm impressed big brother."

"Yeah, well it won't be for long. So far we've managed to do everything discreetly so I don't even think they know anything is happening. Our most obvious move was when we went to get the CCTV footage from Pandemonium, but since no stories have come out of that trip so far, I'm happy to assume that that means no one saw anything of importance. Someone will leak it though, it's just a matter of when, and how quickly I can move to contain it."

"It'll be fine", Izzy replied as she gave him an encouraging smile. She only comforted him for a second before she got back to business, her tailor made (surprisingly fashionable, all things considered) lab coat swishing dramatically as she turned around. Alec eyed his sister's high heels wearily as she walked back to her work bench. He had never understood how she could wear shoes that high when she was spent most of the day standing up. Also, he could have sworn they would've been a safety hazard given the risk of tripping with the chemicals and glass she frequently handled. Alec didn't even want to think about that, instead he forced him to focus his attention back on to what his sister was saying. "Give me today to run my tests and compare everything to the original case notes. Tomorrow, I'll let you know what I have."

"Yes, and what am I supposed to do _today_?" Alec knew he sounded rude and more than a little bit ungrateful, but he hated having periods whilst he was constructing his case where he couldn't do anything. It always made him feel like he hadn't given his best to his client, even though he knew it was irrational and there was occasionally literally nothing he could be doing whilst he waited for a piece of evidence. The fact that Magnus kept insisting that he was perfectly happy to wait for however long was necessary didn't make Alec feel any better about doing nothing. Still he felt guilty at the response he gave his sister and mumbled out a "sorry, that was rude" when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You could catch up on some paperwork", Isabelle suggested instead of calling him out on his momentary relapse in basic manners.

"I did all that yesterday, Magnus made me promise to take a rest day but I didn't just want to do nothing". There was a pause as he thought, desperately trying to find something, _anything_ he could do so he wouldn't feel as if he was just sitting around. The idea he did settle on wasn't completely appealing though he knew he had to get around to it at some point. "I suppose I could plan my battle strategy for when I have lunch with dad in a couple of days", Alec said reluctantly.

Alec was quite sure that the look of horror that settled on his sister's face was currently reflected on his own. Alec had always felt bad about that, it wasn't like Robert was a bad father, or that they had a bad relationship with him. They just didn't really have a _good_ relationship with him, and they both knew he was painfully stubborn when he didn't want to talk about something. He also had the very annoying habit of being overly critical about what his kids were doing with their lives, but Alec wasn't going to dwell on that now.

"What on earth possessed you to arrange that?"

"The same officer who was in charge of Uncle Benedict's case was in charge of Magnus' and I think there might be a connection between them. I think it's time I made dad talk about what happened, he can't stay silent forever. You and I both know that he knows a lot more about what happened than he admits to. Uncle Benedict always told me that they were incredibly close, especially after their father died and Uncle Benedict helped Grandma raise dad. I refuse to believe that dad would just cut ties with him, there's no way he could have believed that Uncle Benedict would do something like that. Dad's hiding something and I am not going to rest until I get him to tell me what it is. "

"Well, you're a braver man than I am", Izzy replied only looking slightly concerned. "But I think you might be wasting your time, you're more likely to turn lead into gold than you are to get answers out of him."

"I know".

There was a beat of silence as the conversation came to an end, both siblings struggling to find a way to say goodbye that wouldn't sound too abrupt. In the end it was his sister who waved him off with her customary teasing. "Well, get yourself gone so I can get to work. These tests aren't quick, you know".

"I know", he replied before kissing his sister's cheek. "Thank you. Call me when you're ready".

Alec didn't wait for Izzy to reply before he left the lab and made his way back home. By the time he had eaten lunch and planned his tactics for cornering his father, namely going to a restaurant so he couldn't run away or start shouting, it was barely 3PM and Alec found himself with nothing to do. The house was clean, the heat had killed all his grass and he was too lazy to plant any flowers that needed watering, and all of his friends would be too busy with work to have a chat. He spent an hour trying to read up on the way new technology was impacting the law; after all such concerns weren't prominent when he did his degree and it couldn't hurt to stay on top of progress, but he couldn't concentrate and his mind would wonder back to his case every couple of paragraphs, causing him to worry about his slow progress and dwindling number of leads.

With a resigned sigh, he shut down his laptop and placed it back into his briefcase. If he wasn't going to get anything productive done, he might as well give his mind a bit of a rest so that he could be more productive tomorrow. This is how he found himself lounging on his sofa for the rest of the day watching football. He wasn't the biggest fan of the sport, but he had always found something relaxing in it; perhaps it was the way that he could completely shut his mind off, not having to think as he followed the ball with his eyes.

He went to bed early, fully expecting to be lying awake until the early hours of the morning, his worries playing out prominently in his mind as the light faded and sleep was supposed to follow. He was pleasantly surprised when he went to bet at 10PM only to fall asleep almost immediately. It was sometime around 5AM when Alec was awoken by a phone call from his sister.

"Get yourself to my lab as soon as you can", she said the second the call connected.

"Please tell me you didn't work all night."

Izzy immediately dismissed his concerns. "I did, but it doesn't matter. I think you're going to like what I have to say. I would really love it if you could bring coffee though".

"I'll be there in an hour", was all Alec said before he ended the call.

It didn't take him long to get dressed and out of his house, and before he knew it he was climbing out of his car with two cups of coffee, walking quickly around all the other workers who rented out lab space in the building.

"Tell me it's good news", Alec asked as he walked into his sister's lab, passing her a large cup of coffee as they both sat at the stalls next to her equipment. He was well overdue some good luck and he would really like it if just once he was able to go to Magnus and actually tell him something positive.

"Oh I think you'll love it", Izzy replied before taking a sip of coffee and wincing at the too hot liquid. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you again how great the technological advances of the last two decades have been, but I feel like I have to stress that our microscopes are more powerful now, our techniques for uncovering finger prints far more advanced."

"Meaning?" Alec really tried not to get his hopes up too much, but he just couldn't help himself. He both loved and loathed how invested he became with his cases, but it was something he could never change. If it did turn out that all his sister could give him was bad news then he'd just have to cope with the disappointment. Yet as it turned out, in this instance he was right to get excited.

"Meaning that I have two new conclusions for you which, before you ask, I got an independent colleague to assess and he arrived at the same conclusions."

Alec almost spat out the mouthful of coffee he had just tried to swallow. "Isabelle! I told you I had to keep this under the radar, only people I trust." Alec was starting to panic, he didn't know any of Izzy's colleagues and the more people who found out about what he was doing, the greater the chance was that the rest of the world would find out too and his case would be ruined. His mind only stopped racing when his sister covered his hand with hers and gave it a little squeeze in order to drag him out of his thoughts.

"Dear brother, would I give your work to someone I didn't trust? I've worked with Henry for over a decade now, he's a good honest man and the only people I trust more than him are you and Jace. I have every confidence that he knows how to keep our secret. Besides, just to be safe I didn't tell him who it was or the facts of the case, I gave him only what he needed to know in order to assess my results. Have some faith."

Alec held his hands up apologetically as he sat back in his chair. "Alright, I'm sorry for doubting you. It's just that nothing seems to be going right recently and I honestly wouldn't put it past the universe to find some way to muck this up for me. Anyway", Alec added hastily, keen to change the topic to some better news, "what are these conclusions you've drawn?"

"Right", Izzy declared as she hopped off her stall (Alec convinced that one day the high heels she always insisted on wearing would lead to a broken ankle) and led him to a bunch of blown up photographs. "So, the first thing I did was look at the blood stains found on Magnus' jumper, and the first thing I decided was that the way this blood flake sits suggests it was deliberately planted, rather than being the result of an attack."

"How on earth would you know that?" Alec's spent years listening to his sister talk about her work, and every time she did he was always amazed at what people could do with the right equipment. It was people like Izzy who made his job infinitely easier; he just wished they'd get more recognition once the cases were completed. Or maybe he knew so little about forensic science that he was easily impressed. Or maybe it was because this was his sister so he was a little biased. Either way, he listened carefully as Izzy started explaining how she reached her conclusion.

"It's simple really", Izzy replied while shrugging her shoulders. "Looking at the photos of the wounds that Jace gave me, it looks like the knife was moved from left to right, as you or I would look down on a body, which would suggest that the killer would have had to be right handed. The blood was found on the left sleeve on the jumper, and I don't see how it could have gotten there since there was no evidence of the killer using their other hand to stop them screaming. I only asked Henry to look at the photos of the wounds, and he agreed with where they must've started and that it would have been strange that blood would've been found on the left sleeve instead of the right. So there's your first suggestion that Magnus may not have done it; it would be useful if you could also find out if he was left or right handed."

Alec nodded as he made a mental note to ask Magnus the next time he saw him. "But wouldn't the original forensic scientist have been able to tell how the injury was created?"

"Not necessarily. Knowledge has increased along with science; chances are they might not have known what to look out for. Or they were part of this cover up you're trying to fight."

"Don't even joke about that Izzy. Honestly the further I look into this, the more I'm beginning to think that everyone I come across is implicated in some way. I'll look into who the original scientist was later on. So what's the second bit of evidence you have for me?"

Alec watched as a bright smile lit up his sister's face; she truly was one of the few people who genuinely loved what they did.

"A true gem that I stumbled across almost accidentally. I told you we have more powerful microscopes now, more intricate techniques. Well, the old methods only picked up Magnus' fingerprints on the murder weapon, but what our new ones found was a small, and I really mean only a fraction, partial fingerprint belonging to someone else. Now since it wasn't a complete finger print, which suggests that they tried to wipe it off and missed some of it, I couldn't get a match that was 100% accurate. What I _could_ get, however, was a list of people who might be a match. I'm sorry it's not more..."

"Don't be", Alec excitedly interjected. "I'm already interested in this mystery 'V.M', and your list would be a great place for me to start. Seriously, this is the best news I've heard in a while. Thanks sis, I'll get you lunch one day."

"Again with the food", Izzy muttered as Alec pulled her in for a hug. "Just meet us all at the restaurant for my birthday and I'll call it quits".

"Deal", Alec smiled.

"Although, speaking of birthdays...is it true you really bought my present from the same woman who set up your client?"

"Well we needed an excuse to go to the shop; it would have been a bit odd if we left with nothing so it seemed like an ideal time to find you something you might like."

"Oh", Izzy replied with a raised eyebrow, both hands on her waist, "my birthday was officially an afterthought?"

"I promise you'll like it though".

Izzy pursed her lips. "We'll see about that. I guess it beats the time you forgot my birthday completely. Do you want me to email you the list?"

"I'd love you forever if you did."

"Okay, consider it done. I'll see you in a couple of days."

"Yep. Love you", Alec called as he turned to leave the room.

"I love you too; but not if you got me something lame just to justify going to that shop".

Alec didn't respond as he opened the door, only laughed a little to himself as he made his way back to his car, nightmarish visions of mountains of mango flashing before his eyes. The traffic had picked up horrendously during the time he had been with his sister, so his journey home was almost double that of his trip to the lab. This allowed plenty of time to curse his decision to forgo the tube and drive himself. By the time he got back home, it was about 9AM and Alec decided to treat himself to a large brunch; making sure to cook extra sausages that he could put in a sandwich for a quick lunch later. It was only once he had eaten and had caught up with the latest episode of some strange sci-fi programme he promised Max he would watch (which Alec would not admit he hated) that he finally sat in front of his laptop to get back to work.

The fact that Magnus had given him 'Val' to work with narrowed the list down quite quickly. In next to no time, he had whittled the list down to three names that had the initials 'V.M' and began with 'Val'; Valerie Merrywater, Valencio Matesas and Valentine Morgenstern. The second he had the list he called for Jace to come and meet him at his apartment; though it was just Alec's luck that his brother had been called out to an armed robbery and likely wouldn't be available for several hours. It was frustrating to say the least; he finally had a solid lead he could work on, and all he could do was sit idly by for the second time in two days.

It was safe to say that Alec did not just sit back and wait for his brother to arrive. Instead he took the time to clean his kitchen and bathroom, vacuum all the carpets and change the sheets on his bed. In fact, he had only just sat down to watch something when his doorbell rang five hours later and he had to open the door to his very dishevelled brother looking like all he wanted to do was collapse into bed for 12 hours.

"Hey Alec sorry to keep you waiting", Jace replied as he limped into the house and all but collapsed into the armchair, taking off his boots to put his feet up on the foot stall.

Alec was immediately concerned for his brother, feeling guilty that he had dragged him into work when he should be at home resting. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Alec, stop worrying and stop looking so guilty. I choose to help you okay? The suspect decided to knock me over as he tried to get away, I fell badly on my ankle. It's only a sprain though, should clear up in no time. What fool's errand are we on today?"

"On the contrary, I think Izzy might have actually given us something concrete to go on."

Jace sat up a little straighter as Alec brought his laptop over. "A partial finger print on the murder weapon that was missed by the last forensic scientist. She gave me a whole list of names, but these", Alec indicated to the ones highlighted in yellow, "are the only ones matching our criteria. I need to see if you can access any records which show where they were on the day that Etta and her family were murdered."

"Okay", his brother nodded. "I can't do that here, but e-mail me the list and I'll go to the police station and have a look."

"Are you sure that you should be doing that", Alec asked, concerned for his brother. "Wouldn't it be better to rest your ankle today? You can always look at the list tomorrow morning".

"I told you I'm fine Alec. I'll get a cab to the station and I'll keep my feet up whilst I'm there. Besides, I'll only be sat down at a computer so it's not like it's any different to what I'll be doing at home".

"I suppose", Alec replied chewing gently on his lip as he watched his brother put his boots on again. Jace had just stood up when Alec suddenly thought of another worry. "Have you had lunch or dinner?"

"I had a large breakfast".

"That doesn't count, Jace. Just let me make you something, and then you can go".

"Okay dad", he heard his brother call as he made his way into the spacious kitchen.

It only took Alec ten minutes to make his brother a couple of sandwiches and then send him back out of the door, leaving Alec once again alone to do nothing. This time, with nothing left to do in the house, it was very difficult to not watch the seconds tick slowly by. All Alec could do was sit and eat dinner before showering and finally allowing himself to watch some television. It was nearly 11PM when he heard from his brother again.

"So", Jace spoke down the phone instead of saying hello, "of the three names you gave me only Matesas can be ruled out at this stage. I have a record of him being arrested that morning in Spain for drunken misconduct so he clearly is not our killer. Unfortunately, I have nothing to concretely rule out Merrywater or Morgenstern but since Merrywater died three years ago, perhaps we should concentrate our attention on Morgenstern for the time being since he would be the one that could hide his tracks. The only problem is that he is in the system for speeding so I have no idea who any of his associates may be."

"That's alright; I'll see what I can get out of dad tomorrow."

"Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you Alec".

"I know; but right now, it's the only thing I can think of to do".

"You'll think of something else, I know you will". The 'will' was distorted by a loud yawn and Alec immediately felt guilty for asking his brother to take on the extra work.

"Go and get some rest. Are you working tomorrow?"

"Nope", his brother popped the 'p'. "Day off; I was supposed to help you."

"Well consider it a day off from me as well. I don't need you to come and see dad with me, and I'll just tell you what I found out when we have lunch in a couple of days, okay?"

"Okay, good night Alec."

"Good night Jace".

When the call ended, Alec was left alone in a silent house, his only company being the growing feeling that maybe they had finally started along the right track.


	13. 15th August 2018

**A/N** \- Hi everyone! Wow that was an unexpected hiatus; I'm very sorry about that. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this chapter.

Guest - I'm really glad you enjoy this story, and again I'm sorry for disappearing, I've been quite busy lately. But don't worry, I promise it won't be abandoned without being finished!

 **Disclaimer -** Characters still belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

"Alexander, I have to say this is a nice surprise".

His father greeted him with a sincere smile as he settled into the seat opposite him. In fact, his father looked so happy to be having lunch with him that Alec felt a bit guilty that he had only organised it in order to try and get some information out of him. Alec couldn't pin point the exact moment that his relationship with his father began to become distant, but if he had to attribute it to one factor, he would probably have to blame his father's secrecy. Alec had never liked lying, hardly ever trusted anyone who did, and in his mind, deliberately avoiding questions was the exact same thing. It made it difficult to trust Robert, and as a consequence it made it difficult for the two of them to be close. Sometimes that upset Alec, but most of the time he just accepted that that was the way their family was.

"I'll be honest with you Dad; it's mainly because I need to talk to you about something but I don't think you'll like it".

"You can ask me anything Alexander I am your father", Robert replied, his dark eyes concerned and a slight frown settling at his mouth.

 _Well, no I can't and that's exactly the problem_ , Alec thought to himself as the waiter brought over their menus. He would never say that out loud though, it would spark an argument he knew there would be no going back from; sometimes it was better just to remain silent and try to get on the best you can.

"We can get to that in a bit Dad", Alec replied instead. "How's work going?"

"Dull, but I can't really complain; I get paid good money for the work and heaven knows I don't have the qualifications to get a better job."

"Why don't you take some night courses? I'd be happy to pay for them."

Alec watched as his father shook his head. "What would be the point? In less than a decade I'll be approaching retirement age, what use would it be trying to get a new job now? It's why I always told you and your siblings not to give up on school; I just don't want you to have the same regrets I do".

"I know Dad", Alec replied s a little exasperatedly. He didn't have the opportunity to say anything else as the waiter had returned to ask them what they would like to order. Once the waiter walked away again, it was his father who filled the silence.

"Alexander, I know you think I nag you too much about going into a different area of law, but I only do it because I want you to be happier than I am."

"I am Dad, and it's not like I'm struggling to survive anymore. That period has well and truly gone. I'm comfortable and I have a job I love. It's enough for me and I would really love it if it could be enough for you too without me having to justify myself to you at every corner".

A guilty grimace filtered quickly over Robert's face. "I don't want you to feel like you have to justify yourself to me at all, Alexander. I'm sorry if you felt that way. I really am very proud of you, of everything you've done. Sometimes I think my co-workers fear the days you do well because they know they'll have to put up with me going on about it for the next week. Now, why don't you ask me what you brought me here for, I'm guessing it's something work related."

"Okay", Alec responded as he looked around, pausing as the waiter brought their drinks to the table and promptly departed again. "It's to do with a case I've just started work on, I can't tell you what case it is yet, but I need you to be honest with me because what I think you can tell me might be the only way forward for me."

"Okay", Robert replied slowly, suspiciously.

"Why was Uncle Benedict set up?"

Alec had thought long and hard about the best way to bring the topic up and he had eventually settled on getting straight to the point rather than trying to ease the issue in slowly. The way his father visibly flinched and almost spilled his drink all over the table suggested that maybe his bluntness wasn't entirely as effective as Alec hoped it would be.

"I'm not talking about that Alexander", his father's voice was cold and stern, a stark contrast to the warmth that Alec had been receiving so far that lunch time. "You know I don't like to talk about him, so I would appreciate it if you would just let it be please."

"Dad please, I know you don't like talking about it so you must know that I wouldn't ask if I didn't have to. My client was pursued by the same officer who investigated Uncle Benedict, so if you could just let me know a little more about what happened..."

"I said no, and that is the end of this conversation."

"I just don't understand why you're so stubborn in refusing to talk about it", Alec exclaimed exasperatedly, only lowering his voice when he realised that he was drawing the attention of the nearby tables. "Uncle Benedict clearly didn't do it, so I don't understand why you won't fight for him. I was thirteen dad, _thirteen_ , and I cared more than you did. Do you know how horrible that prison was? How much I hated going? But I couldn't abandon him the same way his so-called brother did. I'm not asking for much, just a little bit of information. What harm could that do?"

"Some things are best left alone Alexander. You have always been an incredibly curious individual and so far your desire to pursue the truth hasn't gotten you into trouble. One day you will realise that some things are best left alone, that some things should never be asked, and I just hope you don't have to learn that lesson the hard way".

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing", his father hastily snapped. "Now can we please just end this conversation?"

Alec narrowed his eyes as he looked at his father. Robert's reluctance to tell them about what happened to his brother or about his upbringing had always lead Alec to believe that there was something his father didn't want him to know. Alec had never figured out precisely what that was, but he was beginning to think that maybe Magnus' case would allow him to do so.

"Okay. You ever heard of Valentine Morgenstern?"

"No".

It was all the confirmation Alec needed, and he immediately knew that his father _did_ know him; he responded too quickly, he refused to meet Alec's eyes and he had turned an alarming shade of white.

"All right then", Alec responded.

The rest of the meal passed in an uncomfortable silence; he was upset with his father for lying, and his father was upset with him for asking. They were silent until the waiter returned with their food a couple of minutes later, and while they were eating they stuck to safe topics like Izzy's birthday or his mother's work in a shop that sold handmade soaps and candles. It was no surprise that they declined dessert and asked immediately for the bill, Alec taking the minutes Robert spent in the bathroom to quickly text his brother **dad knows V.M.** It wasn't much to go on, it wasn't anything really, but at least it confirmed Alec's suspicion that the two cases were linked.

The parting between the two men was awkward; they briefly hugged and Alec promised to meet both his parents for lunch in a couple of weeks to update them on how the promotion was going. Alec was part way through his walk home when he happened to glance at a newspaper stand outside of a corner shop, and what he saw froze the blood in his veins.

"Shit", Alec exclaimed as he picked up a copy of every newspaper available. "Oh bloody hell". He continued to grumble and curse to himself all the way up to the counter. Alec barely spared a glance at the bemused cashier as he unceremoniously dumped the mound of papers on the desk and dug a £20 note out of his wallet, not stopping to pick up his change as he gathered the papers once again. He flew out of the shop, running home as fast as he could with his arms full of papers, all the while thanking every deity he could think of that he had asked his father to meet him at a restaurant not too far from his house. On any other day he would have become self-conscious about the way other people on the street stopped to stare at him, but this was an emergency and he didn't have the time to stop and dwell on it.

Once he got home, Alec quickly skimmed through all the papers and took a minute to think. It wasn't as bad as it could be, his name wasn't published in any of the articles and there were no details about what Magnus and he were trying to do. The gist of the stories all seemed to be that Magnus was in contact with a barrister, but no one knew why. However, the worst elements of these stories had nothing to do with the case itself. Alec could only hope that Magnus wasn't seeing any of these, because his heart broke a little every time a paper made Magnus look like a monster, or a reporter argued that he should never see the light of day again. Alec foolishly looked up some of the articles online and looked at some of the comments, and what he saw there was even worse. He had to stop reading once the death threats started getting creative.

Alec quickly shut off his laptop and slammed the top down, taking a moment to sit and breathe as he thought about what to do next. The damage was done, the world knew that _something_ was happening, his priority now was to ensure that no one reported who was involved and what that something was. He had only just come to that conclusion by the time his mobile was at his ear and the call was picked up.

" _Alec, how..."_

"No time for pleasantries Helen, I need you to book me an appointment with whichever judge is on duty at the High Court".

" _When do you need the appointment?"_ Alec really loved how quickly Helen could switch into her business gear.

"Today and as soon as possible. Tell them I need an urgent interim injunction surrounding media reporting of the case I'm handling. I'll get a cab there so you don't have to worry about not being able to contact me, just call me as soon as you know who I'm seeing and when."

Alec had only just hung up the phone and pulled his coat back on when his phone rang, this time it was his brother.

" _I don't know how they found out Alec"._ His brother sounded just as distraught as Alec felt, and the blue-eyed man was glad that he didn't have to waste time filling his brother in.

"Well they heard it somewhere", Alec responded as he called a taxi over. "Either someone overheard us when we were talking whilst we were out, or someone at the station heard something. I don't think it can be the former, we were always too careful for that. It has to be someone at the station. You don't think our mole could've heard do you?" Alec was conscious not to say any names that could be identified for fear that the taxi-driver may just happen to know all the wrong people.

Alec was mildly amused at the string of colourful curses that flew out of his brother's mouth. _"It could be worse, right? I mean, whoever leaked the information obviously didn't have much to give them. They don't know you're working with him and they have no idea what you plan on doing. The only people who could gather any useful information from this are those already implicated and chances are that Malachi or Camille have already told them everything they need to know. I'm sure the investigation is safe Alec."_

"For now", Alec responded pessimistically. "I've got a plan though; I'll call you back when I know what's happening".

The rest of the journey passed in tense apprehension as Alec waited for any message from Helen. It was only once the cab pulled up outside the High Court that his phone chimed with an incoming message:

 **Mr Justice Blackbourn, 20 minutes. H x**

Alec took a second to smile at himself before he entered the building and passed through all the security measures. It didn't take him long, and by the time he had found the correct room he still had 10 minutes to wait. He ignored the uncomfortable looking wooden benches and started anxiously pacing up and down the corridor, trying desperately to push down his worries about what he'd do if he couldn't get an interim injunction. He was fairly confident that he would succeed, he hadn't gone into a trial presided over by Mr Justice Blackbourn before which left him at a disadvantage (after all, knowing the judge meant one could tailor one's arguments to what each individual judge was receptive to), but he had heard of the man and all things considered, there were worse options available. During his five years in the High Court, Mr Justice Blackbourn had developed a reputation for his stance against criminal actions of large corporations. He was by no means biased, but more often than not claimants were successful in bringing actions against corporations. It was this which allowed Alec to believe that this meeting would be a success. It had to be, Alec had no other choice.

Just then, the large wooden door at the end of the corridor opened and a thin man with greying hair and thick rimmed glasses stepped outside and offered Alec a hand to shake. "Mr Lightwood, I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, please do come in".

"My Lord, it's good of you to see me so quickly", Alec replied as he followed the older gentleman into the room and closed the door firmly behind him.

"Well, your receptionist made it sound as if the matter was urgent, and since I had no other appointments today I thought it prudent to fit you in while I still had the opportunity."

"The matter is incredibly urgent my Lord, so I will get straight to the point. This morning, the majority of the country's most popular newspapers decided to prominently feature a story that Magnus Bane was consulting with a barrister. Fortunately for me, no further details about my work was released, but I do need an interim injunction blocking all further reporting on the case until I can get a more substantial injunction passed after a court case."

Alec sat back as Mr Justice Blackbourn scrutinised him with his light brown eyes, only releasing him from his gaze when he turned to pull out his diary from a drawer in his large desk."Mr Lightwood, is it not in the public interest to report on developments involving convicted murderers? Would the public interest not be particularly high given the level of national attention the case originally gathered?"

"I quite agree that the public does need to know when new developments occur in old cases, and I'm not asking for a permanent ban on reporting. All I need is a ban on reporting until all the evidence has been gathered, after that the papers can report what they like. The problem I have is that I think there's a strong chance that Mr Bane's conviction was the result of a group set up that's been covered up by someone ever since. I cannot run the risk that a newspaper report will make vital evidence disappear; it's been sheer luck that so far my involvement and what precisely I'm trying to do has not been discovered."

"And what is it you are trying to do?"

"My brother, he's a police officer, and I have reopened the investigation. We are going back over every bit of evidence originally gathered and every witness statement originally given in order to reveal what actually happened. What I can tell you is that we have uncovered evidence that Magnus wasn't lying about being in the club that night, and if he wasn't lying about that, it leads me to question what else he was telling the truth about. My Lord, this is not another case where the public interest must be weighed against the interests of justice, because the public interest _is_ in pursuing justice. Because if I'm right, and Mr Bane truly _is_ innocent, that means that the killer and the people behind them are still out there somewhere, and we cannot allow them to go unpunished any longer."

There were a few moments of silence as Mr Justice Blackbourn considered Alec's arguments and it took everything Alec had to sit still and not let his nerves show, almost believing that revealing his nerves would convince the judge to decide against him.

"Well Mr Lightwood, you've brought me the relevant paperwork, and your arguments, as ever, are convincing. I am troubled that I must reach a decision without members of the press being able to present their own arguments, and I am hesitant to reach a judgment for this reason. However, you are quite right that the public interest is best served by ensuring that justice is achieved. I am also satisfied, as the law requires me to be, that at trial you will succeed in obtaining the injunction that you require. I will grant your interim injunction, and I will contact the legal departments of the relevant papers forthwith. However, given the lack of opportunity for members of the press to present their arguments I will order the issue goes before the court first thing this coming Monday. This decision will be written up and published, with the relevant information withheld to preserve anonymity as soon as I have contacted the legal departments."

Mr Justice Blackbourn stood up once he finished speaking, and Alec took that as his cue to do the same. "My Lord, my client will greatly appreciate this. I will leave you to your work, but thank you for your time."

"It is my pleasure Mr Lightwood. I must confess, I have long looked forward to meeting you, even if I had hoped that I would first do so in a courtroom. It's a shame that I will not have the privilege of presiding over the court case."

"Oh I'm not sure it really would be much of a privilege", Alec laughed. "Public law never really was my area of expertise, but I'll just have to do the best with what I have. My thanks once again", Alec concluded as he picked up his briefcase.

Alec saw himself out of Mr Justice Blackbourn's office and promptly collapsed onto a bench next to the door. It may only be 3PM but the amount of stress that the last few hours had put him through had left him exhausted. He didn't have long to rest though, as the worst part of the sorry affair was still to come. Alec just hoped that Magnus wouldn't let it get to him.

* * *

Magnus had been having a good day, the type of day that only ever came around a couple of times a year. They had had Greek yoghurt with granola and mixed berries for breakfast, and he had even found a book on South Asian sculpture in the prison library that he had never read before. To make things even better, the guard assigned to accompany him outside of his cell today was one he got on fairly well with; she never showed him any contempt and he was always able to talk to her about life outside the prison over lunch. Charlotte shared his love for travelling, so often he asked her to recount stories of her latest travels or where she planned to go to next. He supposed it should've upset him to be reminded of all the things that he had missed out on, but truth be told, he always looked forward to those hours where Charlotte would tell him stories. So today, it was safe to say that on this Wednesday morning, Magnus finally felt like his world was no longer falling down around him.

That was, until his daily newspaper arrived along with a sympathetic look from Charlotte who looked like all she wanted to do was prevent him from seeing it.

Before he had read any of the words he saw an overblown picture of himself from when he was standing on trial, and he already knew it wouldn't be good. He couldn't have predicted just how _horrible_ it would be. They only briefly talked about the fact that, for some unknown reason, he was talking to an unknown barrister. The rest of the article was devoted to just how _evil_ he was and how if he ever saw the light of day no one would be safe. He flicked to the full story on the inside and saw that it was mainly an interview with Etta's mother saying how much he deserved all the suffering he had experienced, and more.

The story itself was bad enough, but then Magnus made the stupid decision to see the online comments at the computer that sat on his desk. He knew it was foolish, and yet he still sat there and forced himself to read as many of the comments as he could. Comments saying how someone should 'teach him a lesson', hurt him the same way he had hurt that poor family. Magnus knew then that his prison protection wouldn't be lessening any time soon.

Once he had shut the computer off Magnus just sat in his chair, staring at the wall. He had thought that after all this time he wouldn't care what other people said, but he was wrong. It hurt to know that people saw him as a monster, to know that people would very gladly kill him, or hurt him badly enough to wish he were dead. It made Magnus wonder why he even bothered trying to appeal his sentence; he didn't think he'd ever be able to live a normal life outside of the prison. He just knew now, that even if Alec showed that he hadn't done it that no one would believe him. He'd be just as alone on the outside as he is now and a hundred times more vulnerable. A life constantly looking over his shoulder, even with a new identity, wouldn't be any life at all. His face was all over the news, wherever he went someone would find him and he would never be safe.

He didn't know how long he sat at that desk, his hope slowly being replaced by an ever growing desire to give up when he suddenly heard the door open. He looked up to see the prison guard standing at the door.

"Come on Magnus", she spoke kindly, "your barrister wants to see you."

"I take it you've seen what they've been saying then", Magnus croaked out as he stood and held his hands out for Charlotte to handcuff.

"I have", she acknowledged, "but you must try to ignore them. Only you know the truth Magnus. Only you know what is in your heart. You shouldn't let other people tell you otherwise."

Magnus was silent as they walked through the doorway, only speaking again once Charlotte had locked the door and started leading him to the meeting rooms. "Charlotte, does this mean you believe me?"

"I'll be honest with you Magnus, for a long time I didn't. But I have worked at this prison for 20 years, and I am more than familiar with Alec's work. He doesn't agree to help if he doesn't think there's something to what you're saying. So if he believes you, so will I. And that's not to mention the fact that I have gotten to know you over the years Magnus Bane. You are a good and kind man, and even before Mr Lightwood agreed to help you I was already changing my mind. And that is down to _you_. Don't fret about what they're saying, they're just words, and once they learn the truth no one will be able to say something like that ever again. The world will be yours."

"Thank you Charlotte" Magnus replied as, for the first time that day, tears began to build up in his eyes. "It means a lot". The only other person who had said anything kind to him in 17 years was his barrister, so it was nice to hear that there was at least someone who didn't utterly despise him.

"No need to thank me Bane, I'm just sorry I didn't believe you sooner".

"It doesn't matter Charlotte".

"It does", she replied as she turned to look at him and took the handcuffs off of his wrists. "In you go, I'll be waiting out here."

Magnus offered her a watery smile as he entered the room and shut the door heavily behind him. Today, Alec wasn't sat at the table. His coat had been discarded on a chair and he could see that his tie had loosened and become crooked. Alec was also pacing, clearly deep in thought if the frown on his face and lack of a greeting were anything to go by. Magnus wasn't sure how he was supposed to catch his attention so just stood there in awkward silence for a few minutes while he waited for Alec to notice him. Eventually, Alec let out a heavy sigh and stopped pacing, turning instead towards the table. It was only then that he seemed to notice Magnus, his tiered blue eyes widening with surprise as he took a small step back.

"Magnus", he exclaimed. "How long have you been standing there? You should've said something! I'm so sorry, take a seat."

"It's okay Alec, I wasn't there long and you looked so deep in your thoughts that I didn't want to interrupt".

They sat in silence for a while, Alec's blue eyes scrutinising as if he was looking for something just from the way that Magnus was sitting. Evidently, he must not have liked what he saw because he shook his head slightly and sat straighter in the chair.

"Magnus, do you remember my condition for taking this job?"

"I wasn't to give up", Magnus said quietly.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Alec raised an eyebrow at him in a clear challenge.

"I promised not to give up, that no matter what anyone said about me I would continue to fight".

"Exactly. So why have you given up?"

"What, I haven't", Magnus sputtered in return, the protest sounding weak even to his own ears.

"Don't lie to me", Alec replied sternly. "I don't like my clients being untruthful. I can see it in your eyes; the fight has gone out of them. Remember it doesn't matter what they say."

"Well that's easy for you to say", Magnus exploded. "It's not about _you_."

There was a silence after Magnus' outburst as Alec just looked at him with an unyielding patience in his eyes. A patience that Magnus sometimes thought he didn't deserve. He was just about to apologise for yelling at him when the barrister spoke again.

"No it isn't about me", Alec spoke quietly but with a purpose. "It doesn't matter what they say because when we show them that they are wrong, and we show them who really did it, they will know you are not a monster. It doesn't matter what they say because you know that you are not a monster, just as I do. I see a kind, intelligent man who has suffered greatly at the hands of others. I can see that you have a gentle soul Magnus, but it's time to fight. The only way you can fight them now is to not let them beat you down."

"Okay", Magnus replied quietly, not fully convinced but also not wanting to cause Alec any more hassle. It was clear to him that the blue eyed man was already very anxious. "But what are we going to do? You said Burrows didn't want any media coverage. And what if it tips off the other people involved and you lose all your leads?"

Alec gave him a tight smile. "This is part of the reason I came today, I wanted to reassure you that everything would be fine. First, Burrows only said he wanted it kept to a minimum, he knew as well as I did that it was bound to get into the papers somehow. Anyway, we've been lucky; they haven't posted anything about me or what we're doing so hopefully people won't be looking to cover their tracks all too soon."

"But surely if they found out that I'm talking to someone, they'll find out it's you."

"They can find out as much as they like, it won't do them any good. I got an interim injunction this afternoon; all reporting on this case is prohibited subject to a court hearing that will be held on Monday. The time I have to spend preparing for that does mean that I will have to take a break from investigating, but I'll pass the reigns to Jace for a while. You'll be in good hands."

Magnus was struck by how dedicated to his job Alec was; in less than 12 hours after publication he had already stopped any further reporting. Not only that, but even when he was fighting to stop the media ruining what leads they had, he was still concerned about not abandoning his case. Magnus honestly thought he had found the best human he had ever met.

"You are incredible you know that?" Magnus blushed when he finally realised what words had come out of his mouth, but he felt his heart skip a beat when Alec gave him a shy smile in return.

 _Pull yourself together Bane; you are forty years old, not a teenager with his first crush_.

"I'm just doing my job Magnus".

"Speaking about jobs, you said reassuring me was only part of the reason you came. What was the other reason?"

Magnus' intrigue rose when Alec averted his eyes and a light pink blush coloured his cheeks.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay", he replied with a small voice.

"That's very kind of you Alec. It means a lot".

"So are you okay?" Alec finally raised his eyes again, his intense blue eyes meeting Magnus' green ones.

"I'm better now. But I can't deny that it hurts, it makes me wonder why I bother trying to get out at all. There'll never be a place for me in society."

"There will be when I've finished with you", Alec smiled at him in return. "But I'm afraid I have to go. I haven't told Jace about everything that happened and he needs to know what to look into while I'm busy over the next couple of days. I'll try to see you soon, okay?"

"Okay Alexander."

Magnus watched as Alec shrugged his coat on, and stood once the blue eyed man picked up his briefcase.

"Just promise me you'll look after yourself. I don't want you working yourself into the ground."

"I won't, I promise. You make sure you look after yourself too. Stay off of internet comment sections and do whatever you need to do to keep your spirits up. Goodbye Magnus".

"Goodbye Alexander".

Magnus watched as the barrister left, and felt his heart sink a little as he stood in the empty room. It was the first time that he let himself consider whether he was growing too attached to the black haired man. And if Magnus was honest with himself, he didn't really mind.


	14. 20th August 2018

**A/N** \- Hi everyone! Two chapters for you today, mainly because this one is a bit of a filler and I didn't want to just give you this. Plus, some questions finally get answered. I hope you enjoy them both, and as always feel free to let me know what you think.

 **Disclaimer -** characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

For the first time in his career Jace found himself genuinely stuck. It had been five days since Alec left him in charge of the investigation, with very firm instructions on digging up everything he could find on Valentine Morgenstern. That task took Jace precisely two hours, and the only thing he _could_ find was an arrest from over three decades ago for driving under the influence of alcohol. There was absolutely nothing else; as far as all of his systems were concerned he had kept a clean record since.

On a whim, Jace even decided to run Malachi and Camille through the system, but still he was given nothing. Jace allowed himself to be mildly impressed on the first day; whoever was the mastermind behind all of this clearly had to know what they were doing if they were ensuring that all of the people associated with them became virtually traceless. By day five, Jace was less impressed, more seriously annoyed.

It was 10AM, and he had already been awake for 5 hours. He knew Alec would be mad if he found out he wasn't sleeping properly but he couldn't help it, the longer he went without finding anything, the harder it was to keep his mind off of the case. Alec would be crushed if they had to admit defeat, and Jace really didn't want to be the one to tell him that he would have to give up. So he decided to do the only thing he had left; it was time for him to go and see Magnus.

As it turned out, it was surprisingly difficult for Jace to arrange a meeting with the man. Evidently his brother had already been enough times for the prison guards to be more than familiar with Magnus Bane's barrister, and it took more time than Jace would have liked to explain that he was helping his brother out and no, they couldn't speak to him because he was currently in court. But an hour after he started the phone call, Jace found himself in the car heading towards the imposing structure. He may have had to visit prisons several times in his career, but he never really felt fully comfortable in them. There was just something about the helplessness that hung in the air that drew you in, even though you knew perfectly well that you would be walking back out in a matter of hours. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like spending years there when you knew you were innocent.

Once he had made his way through security, Jace was left to follow a surly looking prison guard as he led the way down endless white-walled corridors until they eventually arrived at a corridor of meeting rooms. Unsurprisingly, they only offered basic tin chairs and a table, but it would just have to suffice he decided as he collapsed ungracefully onto a chair and nodded at the departing guard. If he was honest, he was quite looking forward to meeting the notorious Magnus Bane.

* * *

Magnus was surprised when a surly prison guard opened his cell door. The man was new, having only joined the prison yesterday, but Magnus was quite sure he hadn't seen him smile at anyone. He also didn't say more than he had to, and although one might suppose that spending all of his time in solitary confinement would make Magnus want the communication, if he was being honest he would rather have the silence than horrible comments. He had kept off of social media and even stopped reading his daily newspaper over the last 5 days to stay away from all the spiteful things that were being sent his way, but that didn't mean that he forgot what he read. Only last night he dreamt that he was in the middle of a dark street, running as countless faceless people chased him. It had left him feeling unsettled all day, and although Alec was trying to reassure him, he was still left wondering whether he would ever really be able to get back into society. In fact, he wasn't even sure he knew how to be around large groups of people anymore

"Visitor to see you in the meeting room", the guard grunted out, disturbing Magnus' thoughts.

Magnus just looked at the guard in confusion. Alec had said that he had a court case today, so Magnus was quite sure he wouldn't be here. Yet other than Alec, he really couldn't think who would be coming to see him.

"Do you know who it is? My barrister is supposed to be in court today."

"How am I supposed to know? All I know is he said he's working on your case. So let's get moving".

Silence fell around the two men as they made their way to the meeting room. Magnus knew it was illogical, and that if Alec was here it probably meant that the case had been thrown out quickly, but Magnus couldn't help but hope that he would soon be seeing the blue eyed man again. That hope was dashed when he opened the door to find a blond man sat in Alec's usual seat with his feet on the table and staring straight at him. He did not like the smirk he was sent.

"Expecting someone else?"

Magnus noted with no small displeasure that even his tone was arrogant. He knew right away that he would not get on with this man as well as he did with Alec.

"Oh I don't know, maybe my barrister?" Magnus could tell he sounded defensive, but he had never liked overly arrogant people. His dislike rose when the man raised an eyebrow at him, the smirk never leaving his face.

"Despite the fact that you knew he was supposed to be in a courtroom today?"

"Well I don't know how long these things take", Magnus shot back.

It was silent for a couple of minutes whilst the other man studied him, and Magnus was just starting to feel uncomfortable when he suddenly took his feet off of the table and sat up properly, a massive grin replacing the smirk.

"Holy shit you like my brother".

Magnus narrowed his eyes. "I do not", he hissed.

 _Wait ... brother?_

"Ah", Magnus intoned, understanding creeping into his voice. " _You're_ Jace".

"Yep", Jace replied before the smirk returned. "You know Alec is too professional to let anything happen right?"

"I never said I liked Alec."

"Your face did".

"Are you this blunt with everyone you meet?" Magnus thought that if Alec's trial went on for too long and he had to keep meeting this man he may just lose all patience he had been able to build up.

"No", Magnus watched in surprise as the man looked serious for the first time since he had entered the room. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up too much. Alec cares far too much about his job, and about you I am willing to bet, to let anything jeopardise this case. That means no romantic involvement whilst he is working for you. _After_ however, he's free to do what he wants."

"What's with the wink?" He was beginning to get whiplash from how quickly Jace's attitude changed.

"Nothing", Jace shrugged. "Can you do me a favour? Just write down everything you can remember from the night Etta died please".

Magnus looked at the pen and pad of paper that Jace pushed towards him. "I already told your brother everything I can remember, what's the point of going over it again?"

"I want it in your words not his notes".

The way Jace continued to watch him was unnerving, but Magnus just picked up the pen and started writing. It took 15 minutes but when he finally had everything down that he wanted to say, he was frustrated to watch the man just put the notepad back in his bag without even looking at it.

"Are you not going to read that?"

"I have what I need", Jace replied. "I'm glad you didn't lie to Alec, I'd have been upset if you had."

Magnus was confused; how was Jace supposed to know if he was telling the truth if he hadn't read what he wrote down? This confusion must have shown on his face as Jace answered the question he was silently asking.

"You're left handed. Izzy worked out the killer was right handed."

Magnus allowed himself a minute or two to enjoy the fact that Alec had found out more information to demonstrate his innocence before Jace's words really sunk in."Are you telling me that you've been thinking that I had actually done it the entire time you were helping me?"

"Not really, Alec's confident you didn't and I trust his judgement. But that didn't stop me worrying that you lied to him. It's happened before, and you have to understand that when Alec decides to trust someone he does so completely. I don't like people betraying that trust, so I just wanted to make sure you were being truthful. I hope you aren't offended."

Oddly enough, he wasn't. Magnus was used to being doubted by now, but it was sweet to see someone who cared about their family that much. "No, Blondie I'm not, you'll have to try harder than that if you want to get under my skin. But I'm pretty sure that wasn't the only reason you came to see me."

Magnus looked on warily as Jace averted his gaze and a frown settled on his face. With Alec, he had come to recognise that that meant only bad news.

"No", Jace spoke slowly. "However, my instructions did not include coming to see you so I don't know how much Alec wants you to know. Do you know who Valentine Morgenstern is?"

"Um...no", Magnus replied hesitantly. "Am I supposed to?"

"It would make my job a hell of a lot easier if you did".

Jace looked so frustrated that Magnus felt himself getting dejected; it looked like the case wasn't going nearly as well as Alec liked him to believe.

"I'm sorry". Magnus wasn't sure why he was apologising, but in that moment he felt like he had to. He had dragged two, maybe more, people away from their work, and for what? So far, it seemed, absolutely nothing.

"What for?" Magnus was confused by the wide smile Jace gave him. "It's just a bit of a challenge, and goodness knows the easy cases are boring. At least this way I can have a bit of fun. Besides, I wasn't really expecting you to know, I just thought that if you did, you'd be a lot more willing to talk than the other person who has what I need."

"Really, who's that?"

"Classified I'm afraid".

"Oh. Anything else you need?"

Jace just shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. Although, would you be okay if Alec took Thursday off? He isn't going to ask but it's our sister's birthday and we're all supposed to have lunch together but knowing Alec he'd just try to work anyway."

Magnus was surprised; Alec hadn't mentioned his sister's birthday at all. He'd have to have words with the blue eyed man about trying to sneak too much work in.

"Of course I will be, I've told him I'm not going anywhere; maybe the break from work will help you both figure out what's missing. Please tell me he at least remembered to get her a present."

Magnus watched Jace as he laughed. He was a lot less reserved than Alec was; his laugh echoing loudly as he threw is head back slightly.

"Oh he did. He forgot to get her a present one year because her birthday fell in the middle of a case he was working on, and to get him back she bought him a bag of mangos for his birthday and Christmas every year for 5 years."

"I take it he doesn't like mangos?"

"Hates them", Jace replied still chuckling. "I had to eat all the bloody things, it was ridiculous. It's safe to say he has indeed bought her a birthday present. It's from both of us, we got it when we were at Camille's; a silver necklace with a ruby in the middle. The red box was nice as well if I'm honest".

The whole thing was beginning to sound too familiar to Magnus. "Does it happen to have a Latin inscription on the back?"

"Um", Jace scratched his chin. "I think so. Amor something or other; why?"

Magnus offered Jace an un-amused smile. "Because I bought that for Camille years ago. I can't believe I'm actually surprised she'd have the nerve to sell it after everything she's done to me."

"Oh shit", Jace looked a little alarmed. "If you want we can give it back, I totally have enough time to get her something else from the both of us".

"No need", Magnus replied with a dismissive wave. "I have no need for it, and if someone was going to have it I'm glad it's someone willing to help me rather than throw me in a prison."

"Why, doesn't it match your eyes?"

"Brat", Magnus replied.

Jace chuckled as he stood. "Well, I guess I best take my leave. I'll tell Alec you asked after him".

"I did no such thing", Magnus exclaimed indignantly as he stood up.

"No but you thought it", Jace teased. "Besides, it'll make Alec happy if he thought that you did. Can't have you pining for no reason; consider me your wing man".

Magnus narrowed his eyes at him. "I am not pining".

"Lusting?"

"No".

"Can't take your mind off of his gorgeous eyes and kind heart?"

"Cut it out Blondie".

"You can't hide the truth from me, Bane."

Magnus rolled his eyes at the man. "Have I told you how annoying you are yet?"

"Nope", Jace replied as he made his way to the door. "And that's funny; most people seem to think I'm a delight."

"Yes well, the sooner Alec's case finishes the better."

"Why? So you can swoon as you stare into the deep blue pools of his eyes?"

"No. So I don't have to see you. Now are you actually leaving?" Magnus knew he was being rude, and that the man was obviously putting a lot of effort into helping him, but Magnus found that there was something about Jace that just provoked a negative reaction.

"Yes, as much as I'd like to continue this, I've been awake since five and could do with a nap. Take care of yourself Bane".

Jace had just opened the door before he paused and abruptly let it go again, digging into his bag before he grabbed the notepad and pen, scribbling on it quickly. He carelessly ripped the page out before giving it to Magnus.

"My number, in case you ever need to reach Alec but can't get through", he explained.

"Thank you", Magnus replied, strangely touched.

"You're welcome", Jace replied seriously before he left the room.

It was only once he had been led back to his cell by the surly guard that Magnus realised that he had enjoyed spending time with Jace today. It had been a long time since he'd been able to trade harmless insults with someone. It had been even longer since anyone had playfully teased him. It was once he realised this that Jace's behaviour made some sense; he was trying to make him feel normal, bringing some form of interaction he thought Magnus probably hadn't encountered in a long time.

It was strange, Magnus thought as he settled on his bed. At 40 years old, he would've thought that he would know not to judge a book by its cover, yet here he was doing just that. All throughout their meeting he had thought Jace to be arrogant and annoying. Yet all the time he was just a kind man trying to cheer him up. Albeit still an annoying man. Magnus wasn't sure what he did to deserve the kindness of so many people, but he sure as hell wasn't going to throw it away. He was going to see this case through to the very end.


	15. 23rd August 2018

**Disclaimer -** The characters are still Cassandra Clare's.

* * *

"Alec relax," Jace said for the thousandth time that day. "I already told you that Magnus knows it's Izzy's birthday and is completely fine with you having a couple of hours off".

It was 1PM and the two brothers were slowly making their way to a quaint Russian restaurant that their sister adored. It was a small place and hardly fit in any tables, but there were pictures everywhere and the highly decorative furniture always caught your eye as you walked down the street. Alec was also intrigued to discover that it was home to the most elaborately decorated toilet he had ever been in, every inch of it from floor, to ceiling, to the toilet seat being covered in some form of artwork. His sister had dragged him there many times, and he had fallen in love with the place over the years.

"Yes about that", Alec replied glaring at his brother, "I cannot believe you went to go and see him without letting me know. You're lucky I'm in a good mood or I would seriously get you back for this".

It took three days of legal argument and judicial deliberation for Alec to convince the High Court judge that an injunction should be granted against further reporting on the case. In fact, he had gone even further and obtained a super-injunction: no reporting on the case, no reporting on the injunction, and no reporting on when the newspapers were in court and who they were facing. Alec hoped that this would pre-empt any future revelations, but he knew that even though he had managed to temporarily silence the traditional media, social media was a whole new problem. He had seen time and again how court orders were blatantly disregarded as individuals believed that they should disclose information that ought to have been kept quiet. Alec knew he was working on borrowed time, but that was better than nothing.

"Magnus asked after you, by the way", Jace's voice cut through his thoughts, and Alec frowned slightly. He didn't like the way Jace said that; his tone suggesting that he knew something that Alec didn't. Honestly, more than the fact that his brother didn't know how he liked to run his cases, it was the fact that he had no idea what the two of them talked about that unnerved Alec. The smirk his brother sent him suggested that he wasn't entirely to be trusted.

"Well that would make sense", Alec replied as they crossed the road, "you know, since I am his barrister."

"Yeah, but I could have helped him just as well." There was a brief pause. "Besides, that doesn't explain why he was disappointed that you weren't there."

 _Was he?_ There was an excited part of Alec's heart that wanted to confirm this with his brother, and that leapt with joy at the fact that someone would want to see _him_. Not just someone, but Magnus, the man he had slowly started to fall for. Even though nothing could come of it, it was nice to know that the other man felt the same way.

 _Or does he?_ The treacherous, more reasonable part of his brain told him that it was probably because he wanted to ask him a question related to the case, and that _of course_ Magnus would have more sense than to fall for a man who worked for him.

"Stop it". His brother's sharp voice cut through his thoughts.

"Stop what?"

"Stop thinking that there was no way that Magnus could like you. I have eyes Alec, and it's painfully obvious that he does. Which may be why I told him that while you may not make a move while you're working for him, after the case is finished you're free to do what you want."

"YOU SAID WHAT?" Alec exploded. "I don't even – how did you even? You have no proof I even like him back."

Jace just rolled his eyes at his brother, holding the restaurant door open and revealing the short flight of stairs to the dining room. "I have eyes remember. Besides, I spoke to Izzy".

Alec didn't have time to reply as just then a waiter arrived to ask them if they had booked a table, leading them to their table once they said they were with Isabelle. "I am going to kill her later", Alec grumbled to himself as they followed their guide. Not that the waiter was necessary, given the fact that their sister immediately started bouncing in her seat and calling out to them the second she saw them enter the room. Alec was pleased to see that the enthusiasm she had as a teenager hadn't been stifled by years of stressful work and study; she was very much still the young woman he remembered growing up, and if that meant he had to put up with other customers glaring at them as he sat down, then so be it.

"Happy birthday Iz", Alec greeted his sister with a kiss to her cheek as she threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. Alec was just about to tell her that he couldn't breathe when she abruptly released him and subjected Jace to the same fate, the blonde barely containing a wince as she did. It was only once they were seated around the table that she turned an expectant gaze on her brother.

"Yes Isabelle", Alec queried innocently.

"I'm not going to have to resort to mango again am I?" His sister raised an elegant eyebrow at him whilst Simon chuckled next to her, obviously remembering the torment that his sister had subjected him to.

"Oh I don't know". Alec pretended to think. "I could let Jace consume excessive quantities of exotic fruit or perhaps he could give you the present we got you."

As he was speaking Jace had pulled the small box out from his jacket pocket and placed it on the table in front of their sister who gave them a bright smile before she all bit ripped the paper off. The two brothers watched in silence as she popped the lid open, grinning at each other when she let out a high pitched squeal.

"You two", she gushed. "It's too expensive; you shouldn't have bought me this".

"Shush", Jace replied. "Between the two of us it hardly made a dent. Besides, it's not like we have any other lady to spoil like this".

"Oh I wouldn't let your mother hear you say that", Simon laughed before his face went more serious. "Though could you perhaps not spoil my wife so much? Now I'm going to have to up my game".

The disgruntled look Simon shot the ruby necklace that Izzy had put on made them all laugh. For the first time in a while, Alec felt the tension slowly seep out of him. Today was for family, and he was going to keep it that way.

His thoughts were interrupted by the waiter returning to ask if they wanted anything to drink. He hadn't even opened his mouth and his brother was already shooting him a 'don't-do-it' look. Alec just smirked in response; he had spent years studying the law, and he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for a law related joke when he was presented with one.

The waiter turned to him just as his brother rolled his eyes. "Anything for you sir?"

"I'll just have a ginger beer please", Alec smiled.

"Off course", the waiter replied turning to walk away.

"But without the snail", Alec added before he could move.

"Sir", the waiter began offence clear on his face. "I don't know what sort of establishment you think this is, but I can assure you that we have never had any snails in any of our products. I would..."

"I'm sorry sir", his sister cut in shooting him a disapproving glare. "My brother's not being serious he knows there won't be any snails in any of your products. Please forgive him, it's a joke he finds funny".

"I see", the waiter replied curtly as he moved towards the bar without giving them another glance.

"Good job Al, now the waiter hates us", Izzy scolded. "I told you this when you were 18, but it wasn't funny then and it isn't funny now".

"Oh I don't know", Simon chuckled. "The look on that waiter's face was priceless, though if I were you Alec I'd make sure that he doesn't 'accidently' drop anything on you."

"Are you questioning my integrity sir?"

They all jumped as the waiter silently appeared behind them carrying a tray full of drinks.

"Oh, um no, of course I didn't mean you actually would do it", Simon stammered out, cheeks turning a bright red.

"No? Well I guess you'll be pleased if I ask another waiter to serve you all for the rest of your lunch", the waiter replied as he put their drinks in front of them, walking away before Simon could apologise again.

"Well, happy birthday Iz, here's to a disaster", Jace toasted as he picked up his glass and took a drink in a clear attempt to not laugh.

"Yes, well thanks to these two idiots", Izzy paused to glare at her husband and brother, "It looks like I'll never be able to set foot in here again. This was my favourite restaurant!"

"Give it some time and it will blow over", Alec consoled his sister. "Besides maybe he won't mind if it's just you."

"We'll have to wait and see won't we?"

Another waiter came and asked what they wanted to eat, but it was clear from the way his lips pressed into a thin line that he knew what had happened with the previous waiter. It was safe to say that the rest of the meal was uncomfortable; they could feel the tense atmosphere in the air, and even though all the waiters were being perfectly polite, Alec could tell that they were angry. They all tried to ignore that though, focusing on Izzy and Simon's upcoming trip to Berlin for Izzy's birthday, and all of them planning what they were going to do for Maryse's birthday in a couple of months. Ordinarily, they would have stayed in the restaurant for a couple of hours, but since they had clearly upset the staff they decided to leave as soon as they finished eating, going to Izzy and Simon's house nearby to talk instead.

"Okay, it's official", Isabelle announced when they entered the living room in her house, "they hate us. We can never return".

"I'm sorry Izzy", Alec said as he sat next to his sister and pulled her into a hug. "I didn't think he'd get that mad, they usually know I'm only joking."

"I think it was more Simon's suggestion that the waiter would deliberately drop something that made them mad", Jace helpfully called out from the kitchen.

"Yes thank you, Jace", Simon sarcastically answered as the two of them returned carrying four mugs of coffee. "Enough of the waiters hating us; Alec, how's the case going?"

Simon grimaced in apology as Jace and Izzy gave him identical 'what-the-hell?' looks.

"Terribly", Alec answered forlornly as he placed his coffee cup down on the table. "I keep telling Magnus not to give up, but dad won't say anything and the story is moments away from being leaked and the only other path I have is to reinvestigate Uncle Benedict's case but there is no way in hell that Chief Burrows would let me do that. So honestly Simon, it's a disaster that I was really trying to avoid today."

"Well why don't you talk to Izzy and I about it", Simon replied helpfully. "Maybe we can see something that you've missed?"

"It's worth a shot", Jace supplied as they all sat down.

"The problem is that there are too many people involved and I have no idea how they all link. There's Camille, then Malachi from the club, Hodge was the investigating officer in both Magnus's and my uncle's case, there's some random guy called Valentine Morgenstern who we can't get any information about and my dad clearly knows him but won't say how. I have absolutely no evidence tying any of these people together other than the fact that Camille covered her tracks which means that she must have been warned by Malachi".

There was a moment of stunned silence broken only by Simon's appreciative whistle. "Well this is beginning to sound like the plot of a cheap gangster film".

And just like that, the answer flashed brightly before his eyes; gangs, the one thing that Alec had never stopped to consider. But of course it made sense: the clear structure, the ability to evade attention, the permeation of the police force. How did he not think about this earlier?

"Simon Lewis you beautiful man", Alec exclaimed as he stood up and pulled his brother-in-law into a tight hug. "That's it, that's what I'm missing. It's so obvious now, they have to be affiliated with a gang, but I have no idea which".

"Well," Jace replied clearly deep in thought. "The old address we found for Morgenstern was in North London and I know Camille lived not too far from there as well. I'm quite sure Robert mentioned North London at some point when he told us about school and Hodge frequently complains about the commute. Off of the top of my head I can only think of one prominent gang that operates in the North."

"Oh yeah, what one's that?"

"The Circle. They've been quieter recently, but we only ever captured those receiving the orders, never anyone higher up with a degree of control, and we have no idea who they are. We tried to offer plea deals, but they never take them. For some reason they're all loyal to their boss."

"So how do you know they're all part of this circle thing", Isabelle asked.

"They all have a tattoo of a circle on their neck, so even if that's not their name we at least know they're connected."

"I didn't see one on Camille", Alec pointed out. "And dad doesn't have one either."

"Yes, Hodge doesn't either. But did you see the tattoo that stuck out of the top of Malachi's shirt when we went to get the CCTV footage?"

Alec thought back to that night and remembered that yes, he did think there was a tattoo visible on his neck. "So what are you saying Jace? They're all a part of this gang that we know nothing about except who the replaceable members are?"

"What I'm saying brother", Jace replied with an excited grin, "Is that we finally have something to work on. Tomorrow, we research this gang. We learn it inside and out, all of its secrets; how it works, how it recruits and its line of leadership. And then we infiltrate, we plant someone inside and we take them down."

"You're forgetting the part where Burrows has to actually agree to all of this", Alec reminded his brother. Sometimes he hated being the pessimistic voice of reason, but someone had to do it.

"Trust me brother, he will. And once he does, Bane will be out and free before you know it."

If only things were really that simple.


	16. 24th August 2018

**A/N-** Hi everyone! Again, I'm so sorry for the long gap since the last update, I've not had much time to write lately. But that said, I really hope you like this chapter, and thank you for following the story!

Guest - You're welcome, and I'm glad you enjoy my work. As for the happy ending ... well there's a couple of barriers to get over first.

 **Disclaimer -** Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

After their breakthrough yesterday, Alec hardly slept. He had been too wired up to go to sleep, so although he was in bed by 11PM, he lay staring at the ceiling until the bright red figures on his alarm clock showed 4AM. Alec huffed out a groan as he sat up, a painful throbbing in his head indicating that he was going to feel the effects of his insomnia all day. There was no point trying to sleep any longer, he and Jace had decided to meet in a private room in the police station at 7AM so Alec would have to be up in a couple of hours anyway. Jace would fret and Magnus would moan at him, but it wasn't like Alec hadn't stayed up all night before; it was a pain, but it was something he had to get used to when he started receiving emergency cases that gave him little time to prepare.

However, the fact that he was used to it didn't make it any easier for Alec to drag himself out of bed and into his shower, his limbs feeling heavy and his balance slightly off. By the time he had taken a quick, cold shower and had dressed in his more relaxed jeans and a smart silver shirt, Alec felt slightly more awake. Well, he at least didn't feel like he was going to fall over any time soon. He ate his breakfast quickly, more concerned with doing some preliminary reading before he had to leave.

Alec was ashamed to say that whilst he had heard of the Circle before he didn't know too much about them, and the last thing he wanted to do was hold back their research by forcing his brother to run through the very basics with him. So, as unreliable as the internet can be, Alec decided to see what it could teach him. He didn't have long before he had to leave, but after skimming several websites Alec had come to the conclusion that the only thing it could offer was a rough outline of its known activities. Sadly for them, it didn't offer any information about who the key players were, nor on how they gained new recruits, but what it did offer was the evolution of the gang: from all out violence to serious drug dealers.

Alec couldn't get any specific dates, but it appeared that the busiest, most public era of activity for the gang was the 1970s and 1980s where several of their members had been linked to various high profile murders, kidnaps and acts of violence. It appeared that the gang quietened down in the 90s, only to re-emerge in the early 2000s, only this time, if the violence remained, it was more off the radar, any gang members becoming known to the police solely through drugs related offences. Indeed, Alec noted with some curiosity, it seemed that the gang's resurgence coincided with Magnus' arrest and Alec vaguely wondered if one served as the catalyst for the other.

Alec reluctantly shut down his laptop once the clock in the corner of his screen indicated that it was 5:45 and time for him to leave if he didn't want his brother to complain about him being late. Again. After he had walked down his pathway and passed his car parked on his driveway Alec paused, the thought of the cramped, hot conditions on the underground almost making Alec get in his car to drive to his brother. Almost. Alec wasn't stupid, he knew it wouldn't be sensible to drive without getting any sleep, so with a sigh he walked passed his comfortable car and made his way to the nearest tube station, mentally preparing himself for the morning commute.

As it turned out, it wasn't quite as dreadful as Alec expected. Plus he had time to stop and buy coffee, which was always a bonus in Alec's opinion. It was easy enough for the barrister to gain access to the police station; he had been to the building so many times in his career, both to pester the officers for access to information and to make sure that his brother remembered to eat, that he was pretty sure all the staff knew him by name. It was because of this that Alec walked into the room his brother had booked for him only five minutes after arriving, chuckling as he saw that all the blinds were pulled down and there was a 'do-not-disturb' sign attached to the door.

"I see you're not taking any chances then", Alec stated as he walked through the door.

"Of course not", Jace replied from his position in one of the chairs around the long rectangular table, a box of what looked like blueberry muffins sat in front of him. "Especially with our friend walking about, I didn't want him seeing something he had no business seeing".

"You're right in that", Alec replied as he sat down in a chair opposite his brother and stretched his long legs out in front of him. "Though I think it's about time we gave him a code name in case we ever need to discuss him where he might overhear".

A momentary silence followed Alec's suggestion as both men thought, broken only when Jace triumphantly announced "Hedgehog".

"I dunno", Alec replied fighting the urge to laugh. "It's a bit too close to his name, what if he guesses it's about him?"

"What about Porcupine then?"

Alec gave his brother a small smile. "Porcupine it is", he replied as he reached for a muffin, snatching the cake back quickly as his brother went to playfully smack his hand away.

"I can tell you haven't slept all night", Jace started conversationally as Alec bit into the treat, his golden eyes darkening slightly in concern. "You promised you would start taking care of yourself."

"I was in bed", Alec grumbled around a mouthful of food. "I just couldn't sleep. My mind wouldn't shut off. I'm quite sure that every time I started to doze off my brain started trying to work out the connection between everyone we have. So I gave up at about 4, had a shower and some breakfast and came here". If his brother was already angry at him for not sleeping, he wasn't about to confess to doing some work before he got here as well.

"Okay", Jace relented. "You promise you'll tell me if you start getting too anxious again?"

"Of course", Alec agreed easily, not interested in starting a fight with his brother when they had work to do. "But should we start work? The sooner we start, the sooner we finish and I can try and get a power nap in before I go and tell Magnus that Simon is a genius."

"Better not tell Lewis that or he'll never shut up."

Alec raised one of his eyebrows and looked pointedly at his brother as he reached for another cake. "Don't pretend you don't love him, I know you two have regular trips to the cinema going on."

"Oh shut it", Jace replied while quickly picking up a couple of files he had placed on the chair next to him and placing them on the table. "If you want to work, let's work. I'll admit you weren't the only one who couldn't really sleep last night. Since I was awake I came in early and gathered the records of everyone we've arrested during the last 10 years or so who we believe to be affiliated with The Circle". Jace separated the papers contained in the folder as he spoke; placing a profile of each individual face up so Alec could look at them.

"Did they reveal anything interesting", Alec asked as his gaze scanned the documents as quickly as he could.

"Well it confirmed what I originally suspected about them mainly being the expendable men on the ground. Most of them were eventually charged with smuggling or drug dealing offences, a few firearms offences, and a couple of more serious breaking and entering, but nothing to suggest that they carried any authority within the association. What _was_ interesting though was if you looked into their backgrounds a bit more, the vast majority seemed to lack support at home; either one of the parents had left or were in prison. A lot of the other people had been unemployed for a long while and had already amassed a criminal record for minor theft and property damage. It was a smart tactic; they found people most in need of a supportive figure, and made sure that whoever is in charge of this gang became that figure, thus ensuring their loyalty and buying their silence."

"This is good", Alec replied as he stood up and started pacing, his tired mind working as fast as it could to work out how they could use this to get eyes within the gang. "So I guess we'll have to put someone on the streets and in local shops, bars, and cafes and hope that The Circle tries to recruit them".

Jace pursed his lips as he thought. "It's a good way in, but I'd have to get Burrows to agree to it. Plus we don't actually know which areas they actively search for people, so it may not lead to anything. Then there's the problem that if we use anyone in the force Porcupine would probably know instantly. It wouldn't be too difficult for anyone to discover who's linked to me and you, and if we use someone Magnus knows then Camille will probably reveal that too."

"That's true", Alec conceded. "But it's at least worth asking Magnus if he knows anyone who could help that Camille isn't familiar with. I mean, this is the best lead we've had so far, we can't give up on it before we've even begun."

"Alright, but that doesn't help us decide who are the higher-ups in this organisation and who just thinks that they are".

"Well", Alec began as he walked up to the whiteboard at the front of the room and picked up a pen. "I think it's safe to say Porcupine is probably near the top", Alec stated as he wrote 'PORCUPINE' near the top of the board. "His role would carry a lot of responsibility; he would be their key source of information regarding ongoing and potential investigations and would be tasked with alerting them of anything they need to know, so I guess that would guarantee him access to whoever is the top dog. I know for a fact that I wouldn't put anyone in this position unless I trusted them completely and in order for that to happen it would have to be someone that I had been close to for a long time."

"I'd say Malachi isn't as high up as Porcupine", Jace added. "I don't really see what responsibility he could have, but if The Circle is making a lot of money dealing drugs it would be reasonable to assume that Pandemonium could be a good cover for it".

Alec nodded along as he wrote 'MALACHI' a little further down and to the right of 'PORCUPINE', adding in 'CAMILLE + FATHER' immediately next to him. "I'm putting Camille next to Malachi, because if Pandemonium could be a cover for the profits The Circle is generating, I'm willing to bet that Camille's antiques shop is as well. It would also make The Circle's willingness to frame Magnus more understandable. He said that he exposed Camille's father as dealing with fakes and forgeries, and if that's so, then he opened up a whole can of potential trouble for them if they were channelling their proceeds of crime into it."

"Right that makes sense", Jace added as he came to stand next to his brother in front of the board. "So where do we put Valentine? That man is almost untraceable Alec, and Camille went to an awful lot of trouble to make sure that Magnus never found out who he was. And she didn't even use his full name in her diary. Would you be that careful to not use the full name of someone in a book that only you would read if that someone just took commands? I'd bet my house that he's the leader in all of this".

"I think you're probably right", Alec agreed as he wrote 'VALENTINE' at the top of the board and underlined it in thick pen. "So we've worked out a rough hierarchy for them, but what do we do with it?"

"I don't know".

There was silence as the brothers stared at their notes, trying to figure out what they could do with the information. They were both so deep in their thoughts that they hadn't heard the quiet knock on the door, hadn't heard anyone enter until they spoke.

"Jace", a quiet voice began and both men spun around quickly in a panic, trying to shield the information on the board with their bodies.

"Hodge what the bloody hell are you doing in here", Jace exploded angrily. "Can you not read?"

"I did knock", the other man protested as Jace quickly moved across the room and dragged the older man out of the room with him. Thankfully for Alec, the room wasn't soundproof, so anything spoken at a loud volume could easily be heard.

"I don't care if you knocked", Jace all but yelled. "I didn't tell you to come in! What do you want?"

Alec didn't hear what Hodge said so he resettled himself in a chair, anxiety building up at the thought that his element of surprise had just been completely destroyed before he had done anything with it. It took everything he had not to scream in frustration, as it was he hit his head against the table a couple of times. Eventually his brother came back into the room and he looked just as upset as Alec felt.

"There's no way he didn't see what was on there Jace".

"I know".

"That's everything ruined. Again. Before I could even do anything about it. I wanted to tell Magnus something good today, but instead all I get to tell him is that we finally thought of a good plan all for it to be ruined within half an hour".

"Hey", Jace interjected with a frown. "I don't want any of that defeatist attitude Al. Yes he saw, yes he will tell them that we know who they are and that they're all linked. But we only had their names on the board and files of people on the desk. Nothing of our plan was visible for him to see, so I say that we just go for it. Especially if you can find someone that no one from The Circle has heard of. Do not give up now, you hear me? I think we're closer than we've been since this thing started and I will not tell that poor man that you let this defeat you, okay?"

"Okay", Alec tried to smile at his brother.

"Now go home and sleep, and then go and see Magnus and tell him you're going to get him out of jail. Now", Jace added the last word as Alec opened his mouth to argue. Instead he just nodded, his tiredness catching up with him as he thought of how nice it would be to catch a couple hours of sleep.

"Alright", Alec replied quietly. "Keep an eye on Hodge if you can, but be careful".

"Always am brother", Jace replied with a wicked grin.

Alec just laughed as he left the room, but as he went to get the lift down to the ground floor he walked past Hodge's desk, and as he did so he could've sworn that the older man gave him a calculating look, staring at him until he got into the elevator. Alec tried to repress a shiver once he was out of sight, but he had a horrible feeling that something very bad was about to happen.

His meeting with his brother had been interrupted after only an hour, so it wasn't even 9:30 by the time he had opened the door to his house, his lack of sleep finally catching up with him. If it wasn't for the fact that the tube was completely packed with people he was pretty sure that the heat would have sent him to sleep standing up. It was with heavy limbs that Alec climbed the stairs to his bedroom, ringing the prison as he went to tell them that he wanted a meeting with Magnus at 5PM. Once he reached his room, he found that he just didn't have the energy to change, so after dumping his belt on a nearby chair, he collapsed onto the mattress, only pausing to set an alarm to let him get up early enough to eat before he had to get to the prison.

He was asleep almost instantly and didn't wake again until his alarm started screaming at 3PM. The sleep had done him good though, and he finally felt awake enough to think properly. As he made himself a quick sandwich to eat before he left, Alec thought about what would come from the fact that The Circle knew he was looking at them. Maybe it would mean that they'd stop recruiting new people, so their plan to place a set of eyes inside their ranks would fail anyway. Or maybe Hodge would find some other way to ruin his work. _Or maybe you'll find yourself in the same place your Uncle did_. Alec pushed that thought away as quickly as it came; even if they did try and do something like that, they were onto them now; there was no way they'd get away with it. Not a third time. Jace was right, Alec thought, no good would come from dwelling on what might happen. The only thing they could do now was get on with the plan and hope they got it right.

It was with a new found determination that Alec walked back to the underground, deciding that the traffic would be far too busy to justify driving. He only allowed himself a small second to note the unknown car that was parked down the end of his street, before he shrugged it off; concluding that his overactive mind was making something out of nothing. Anyway, any thoughts that something unusual was happening was soon wiped from his mind when he reached the imposing prison, Alec immediately feeling himself slipping back into his work gear as he assembled his plan into something coherent that he could tell Magnus. For once, Alec was genuinely excited about his visit; there was no part of him dreading the inevitable bad news he would have to give. Instead, he found himself thinking about the way Magnus's green eyes would light up at the news that they finally had something to work on, or the way he would tilt his head to the side a little when he thought.

Alec had long ago, to himself at least, admitted that he found Magnus attractive. It didn't take him long to figure out that he was a kind and caring man, and by then he just couldn't stop himself from starting to fall for him. At first, he was ashamed of himself; he worked for Magnus, he had to do what was best for him without being clouded by his feelings. But the more he was able to push his thoughts aside and focus on the job at hand, the more Alec came to accept that there was nothing wrong with falling for the man, as long as their relationship remained strictly professional whilst he was working for him. If Alec found another reason to be determined to secure Magnus' freedom, no one else needed to know about it.

It was only once he was sat down at the small table that he realised that for the first time he had come out without his briefcase. Indeed, when he stopped to think about it, Alec was certain that he hadn't seen it at all that morning. He had only just made a mental note to look for it later when the heavy metal door was opened and a guard led Magnus inside, stopping only to remove his handcuffs before retreating to their usual position outside in the corridor.

"Well, good evening Alexander". Alec felt his eyes widen slightly and heat rush to his cheeks as Magnus all but purred his greeting as he took the empty chair opposite him. "As much as I love your suits, I must say you look very handsome today. That silver goes perfectly with your eyes."

"Uh, thank you", Alec replied whilst looking at something past Magus's shoulders. "Izzy bought this one for me".

"I knew I'd like your sister", Magnus replied with a smile that Alec returned. "Did she enjoy her birthday?"

"Right up until Simon and I made the entire restaurant staff hate us, I'd say yes".

"How did you manage that?"

"That is a story for another time I think. I've actually come here to tell you something. And ask you something."

"Then by all means go ahead", Magnus replied.

"Simon is a genius and pointed out something Jace and I were very obviously missing."

"And what is that", Magus prompted.

"Have you ever heard of The Circle?"

Magnus shook his head slowly. "I can't say I have, why what is it?"

"It's a prominent gang which operates in North London, where Valentine Morgenstern is known to have lived. So too, did my uncle, Camille and Hodge. We think that when you exposed Camille's father as selling fake pieces you may have unwittingly endangered their enterprise by bringing the cover for their illegally procured money to the attention of the police."

"So they were willing to put me here so I couldn't say anything else."

"Exactly".

"But what about your uncle?"

Alec felt himself freeze, just for a second, before he forced himself to smile in reply to Magnus' apologetic gaze. "I have long believed that my father knows a lot more about what happened than he wants me to know. I will get him to tell me eventually."

"Wasn't there something you wanted to ask me as well?" Alec was glad that Magnus was changing the subject as he didn't think that he could deal with thinking about his uncle on top of worrying about what Hodge had seen.

"Ah yes", Alec replied. "So Jace and I might have come up with the idea of getting some eyes inside The Circle, but we can't use anybody we know because they'd be too easy to trace back to us. I was wondering if you had any friends that Camille doesn't know about who would be willing to possibly endanger their life by spying on a gang known to be especially violent."

Alec waited in silence has Magnus thought, his head one again tilting to the side a bit. "She met nearly all of my friends, and if she didn't meet them then I told her about them. I'm sorry".

"No need to apologise Magnus, Jace and I will just have to find someone sufficiently removed from us so as not to arouse any suspicion."

Alec watched with interest as Magnus' eyes widened, waiting patiently as it appeared that the other man may have thought of someone they could use.

"I do have one friend she never met and that I never told her about because he was out of the country and I knew he wouldn't be back any time soon. The only problem is I have no idea where he is now or how you're supposed to contact him."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Why don't you tell me a bit more about him?"

"His name is Ragnor Fell and he's about 5 years older than I am. We met when I was 16. I had just started a weekend job at a local cafe and he was in charge of teaching me how to use the coffee machine. I was, um going through a bit of a rough patch at that time, and I think he could see that so he kind of became a bit of a mentor for me. Four years later, and he had upped and gone to Brazil to embark on a period of study in the Amazon Rainforest. He always said that when he went he'd be gone for a long time, and once he did go I never heard from him again. In a way, I'm glad that he never learnt of what happened. His opinion matters to me more than anyone else, and I honestly don't know what I would have done if he had believed that I had actually done what they accused me of. I can give you the address of his house in London, if he's back in the country that would be the only place I can think he'd go, but I wouldn't get your hopes up too much. Even if you could find him I'm not sure if he would agree to help, hell I don't even know if I'd want him to help. That man lives for his plants, I don't think he has it in him to go undercover in a violent gang and I couldn't live with myself if something were to happen to him just to help me".

Alec gave Magnus a gentle smile in response. "I'll go to his house tomorrow and if he's there I can talk to him and see what he'd be willing to do. It is a risky task, and it will ask a lot from him, but I promise you that we will do everything we can to keep him safe. There's no way that Burrows would sanction any kind of undercover operation like this without robust safeguards in place. If he does agree, he will be out of there at the first sign of anything going wrong. Okay?"

"I suppose", Magnus said reluctantly. "Do you think I would be able to see him before hand if he is in the country and he agrees to help?"

Magnus looked so excited at the thought of seeing his friend that Alec almost said yes, but he knew that at this point their investigation had to come first, so as much as it pained him to do so he shook his head and watched the smile on Magnus' face dim. "I'm sorry Magnus but we still haven't worked out who leaked my visits to the press, so if Ragnor is going to help us with our investigation we cannot risk him being tied to you in any way. It's the only way to keep him safe."

"I suppose you're right", Magnus replied dejectedly, his shoulders slumped. Alec watched him carefully in silence for a minute while he thought over what to do now. He had already achieved what he had come here for, so he really ought to be leaving. He just couldn't bring himself to leave whilst Magnus looked so dejected. Besides, as his barrister it was part of his job to look after Magnus' wellbeing, a quick chat won't hurt anyone.

"How are you doing Magnus? You've stayed off of the newspaper websites I hope."

"Oh yes, I've even stopped asking for my daily newspaper. Though I guess that now you have that injunction I can start reading them again?"

"If you want my advice, I think it's best if you stay off of it. They can't report anymore, but that doesn't mean the hype will die down, especially online. I just wouldn't risk it if I were you."

"Great", Magnus replied sarcastically. "Is there anything else these people want to take away from me?"

 _Damn it Lightwood, you're supposed to be cheering him up!_

"Do you have enough books to read? My Uncle found the library to be the worst place in the prison, so I'd send him books on philosophy. I can bring you some books on art if you want?"

"That's very sweet of you Alec, but actually this library hasn't been too bad. I've managed to unearth several books that I didn't think they'd have. Besides, I convinced the guards to let me have some art supplies, so I spend most of my time drawing."

"You'll have to show me one of your drawings one day", Alec responded excitedly, glad that it drew an embarrassed smile out of the other man. He thought that the delicate blush over his cheeks definitely suited him better than the red Alec usually turned. "I can't draw to save my life. No one quite knows how Max managed to get his talent, it just seems to have emerged."

"Oh yes, you said Max was the satirical cartoonist right?"

"That's him. It's really exciting because he's publishing a small book of his work next month. Hopefully that'll bring some more attention to his work, it truly is amazing."

"You love your brother a lot don't you Alec?"

"I love all of my siblings", Alec responded with a shrug. "We've always been incredibly close. I really don't know where I'd be without them".

"That's how I've always felt about Ragnor. It was just me and my mum for most of my life. I had a step-dad for a while, but let's just say everything was a lot better for both of us when he was out of the picture. It was great when I met Ragnor; I finally had a male figure I could look up to. It was nice to know that someone other than my mum cared about how I was doing at school, about what I wanted to do and whether I was hanging out with the 'wrong people'. I lost my mother shortly after I started university and if it wasn't for Ragnor I would have dropped out completely. I was heartbroken when he left, but looking back on it now, I think he stayed to look after me for a lot longer than he originally intended to. So I get it, how you feel about your siblings, it's not always easy to explain to other people who perhaps haven't had someone they've had to rely on so much."

Alec was surprised at how well Magnus managed to sum up in one sentence the great difficulty he had always had whenever someone asked him whether he and his siblings were close. "That's exactly it. You know I always find it so hard to explain why Jace, Izzy and I are so close in particular. People always assume that it's because we're so much older than Max and that we must have less in common, but it's more to do with the fact that when my uncle died, they were there. My uncle was my hero, you know? And I was so angry with my dad when he died. Dad had always refused to see him in prison, wouldn't talk about him at all and pulled away from us as we grew up and could've actually gotten to know him. I was hurting so much when my uncle died and instead of turning to my parents I went to Jace and Izzy and they helped me channel my grief into something more positive. My success is just as much down to them as it is to me."

Magnus gave Alec a small smile. "You know I'm quite looking forward to the day I get to meet your sister."

"I don't know if I am; goodness knows you'll probably team up against me. I know she probably has a whole book series of embarrassing stories about me she'd want to tell you."

"Well I look forward to hearing them someday".

Magnus said it in an almost flippant manner, the words clearly coming out before he could really think about them if his eyes widening in surprise at the sound of them were anything to go by. And yet he didn't move his gaze away from Alec's, his bright green eyes displaying sincerity as much as surprise, and as much as Alec felt he should, for that moment he couldn't move his eyes away either. It was only for a second, but in that instant a new understanding arose between the two men and new electricity charged the room around them. _Something_ was growing between the two of them, something that seemed to exceed mere attraction. Something that indicated permanence.

But how was Alec supposed to respond to that sentence? He knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell Magnus that as much as he would probably die of embarrassment, he would love nothing more than to sit there as his sister tried to embarrass him whilst the two of them sat next to each other, not really caring what was said as long as they were together. But he couldn't say that, he couldn't build Magnus' hope that he would get out until he was in a more secure position to guarantee it. And he certainly couldn't admit to how he felt, it would most certainly fly past the boundary of propriety. He'd already gone far too far already today, and he just couldn't risk any more. It was because of this that, with a heavy heart, he decided that he'd have to ignore the understanding that had seemed to pass between them. At least for now.

"Well, I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as what we have on Jace, so I try not to worry about it too much". Alec could only watch reluctantly as the small smile on Magnus' face dimmed a little at the way he brushed past his comments, his eyes turning to gaze at the table instead.

"I take it you probably have to go now", Magnus said quietly.

"Sadly I'm afraid I do. I have to fill Jace in about Ragnor and we need to plan how we're going to get Burrows to agree to our request, so we have a tough night ahead of us."

Alec stood once he finished speaking, but he just couldn't bring himself to leave whilst Magnus was still upset. Which is why, on his way around the table, he paused to put his hand on the other man's shoulder.

"I'm really glad the world brought Ragnor into your life, Magnus. I promise you, I will do everything I can to let you see him again."

At this Magnus finally met his eyes again, smiling just a little. "I know you will. You're a good man Alec; even if sometimes your integrity can get a bit frustrating".

That last sentence was enough to startle a laugh out of Alec, and it was only a second before Magnus joined in, laughing along with him.

"Goodbye Magnus", Alec finally managed to wheeze out once his laughter subsided.

"Goodbye Alexander", Magnus responded as he walked out of the meeting room.

Leaving the prison, Alec felt lighter than he had in days. He had a plan, he had a potential spy and he had the chance at a relationship if everything went the way he wanted it to. In his good mood, even the overcrowding on the tube and the excessive temperatures barely bothered him. It wasn't until he was walking into his house that he remembered that he hadn't seen his brief case today. He thought that whilst he was outside he might as well check in the car before searching the house. With that thought he walked briskly down the pathway and to the car parked in the driveway. It was as he was opening the car door that he remembered that he had been doing some work in his study the day before, and that he had probably left the bag in there. He shut the door almost as soon as he had opened it, locking it as he walked briskly back to the front door.

He was three quarters of the way up the concrete path when all hell broke loose. He wasn't entirely sure what happened. One second he's walking to his house, and the next he's being thrown against the concrete, only having a second to feel the agonising pain that pierced through his stomach and register the loud explosion before the force of his landing rendered him unconscious; the darkness chasing out the bright orange that had been assaulting his eyes.

* * *

 **A/N - Poor Alec, nothing seems to want to go right for him.**

I am very excited to say that we're getting a new point of view for the next chapter. Feel free to speculate on who it is, and if you get it right I'll send some teasers your way.


	17. Moments in Time

**A/N** \- Hi everyone! I am so sorry for disappearing for a few months, but things have calmed down now so I'll be back to more regular updates. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you to everyone who has been reading.

 **Warning** : suicide is implied, but should you want to skip that part of this chapter, it is in the section beginning with 17th November 1995.

 **Disclaimer:** Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

It was 7PM and Robert was supposed to have left work an hour ago. But they were left understaffed after two employees phoned in sick, and although ordinarily he would have managed fine with one other person, today had to be the day that the shop was unusually busy. The kind of busy where lunch has to be eaten in stages every time there is a break between customers and the shop floor is left seriously depleted. So while Robert usually does his paperwork during the quiet hours of the day where two people can manage the shop front just fine, today he is left having to complete it after hours. Making a record of the day's takings had been straightforward enough but it was taking a long time to figure out just how much stock he had to re-order. He had spent much of the last hour dashing between the store room and the shop floor, making notes of what was missing and what they had in storage. He didn't mind being busy, but his back was beginning to ache from all the time spent rummaging through boxes, and he found himself, not for the first time, cursing all of his decisions which led to him dropping out of school.

He couldn't complain about his job; his employers were good people and had been willing to take a chance on him, even though he hadn't finished secondary school, and the pay was good and meant that, along with Maryse's wages, his family lived a comfortable life. But he wanted more. He was 56 years old; he didn't want to be working in a DIY store where most people were half his age. When he was younger he had dreamt about becoming an engineer. His father took him to an aviation museum for his 8th birthday, and it was there, looking at the model planes, that he decided that he wanted to build his own one day. But then, just two years later his father had died and everything fell apart. His dreams and everything he cared about came crashing down, destroyed by his own stupidity.

Robert shook his head sadly as he entered the last of the data into the order form, before turning his computer off and sitting back in his chair with a cup of now lukewarm coffee. He knew his mistakes had cost him a lot more than just his career. He saw the way Alexander would look at him sometimes, especially after Benedict had died, his face guarded and eyes clouded with thinly veiled distrust. It hurt, when he let himself dwell on it, to know that his own son didn't trust him. But at the end of the day, he knew he only had himself to blame. He chose not to answer Alec's questions, he chose not to let his children know him, and so he would have to live with the consequences. It didn't matter if he did it to keep them safe, to stop them from hating him.

 _Now is not the time to feel sorry for yourself_ , he scolded himself as he turned the radio on and sat down to work out the next week's rota. The radio had just started to announce that several roads in central London were closed due to a 'major incident' when the shrill ringing of his phone cut over the reporter's voice. Knowing that the sooner he started this rota, the sooner he could leave Robert decided to ignore his phone, only for the ringing to start again immediately after it stopped. With a heavy sigh he pulled himself out of his chair and over to where his coat hung on a hook by the door. His phone had already started ringing a third time by the time he had found the right pocket, and he was surprised to see Maryse's name lighting up the screen since she normally didn't phone him whilst he was at work. Though he supposed she might be a bit worried since he forgot to let her know that he had to stay late today.

"Hello love", Robert answered cheerfully, "I'm sorry I forgot to let you know I have to stay late today but I should be heading back in half an hour or so".

The heavy silence after he finished speaking was the first indication that something was wrong. The next was the uneven way his wife was breathing, and unless Robert was mistaken it sounded an awful lot like she was trying not to cry, if she wasn't already.

"Maryse are you okay," Robert asked gently when it seemed like she wasn't going to say anything.

" _You have to go to St. Thomas', Robert"._

"What, are you okay? Did something happen?"

" _I'm fine Robert...It's Alec, he's, um, he's really hurt"_.

And just like that, everything he had feared from the moment he held Alec for the first time, watching as he waved his little arm around in protest, had come true. He knew his past alone was enough to constantly threaten his family's safety, but his fears only got worse when Alec started asking more questions about Benedict, saying it was linked to a case he was working on. He knew then that Alec must've started dealing with The Circle. He should've told him of the dangers; he knew what they would do to those who threatened their operations. But he stayed quiet, hoping that it might deter Alec from what he was doing and keep him safe. He couldn't have been more wrong.

"What happened?" Robert was hesitant in asking this, both needing to know and dreading the answer his wife would give him.

" _I don't know",_ Maryse replied softly. _"They had to report it as a major incident, the police shut off several of the roads next to his house. I don't know anything else, the hospital phoned and I'm on my way there now"_.

"Okay", Robert replied as he hastily shut off the radio and grabbed his coat off of the hook. "I'm just leaving now, so I can be there in about half an hour. I love you".

" _I love you too"_ , Maryse replied before hanging up, presumably to tell Jace, Izzy and Max about what had happened.

Robert moved in a daze as he locked up the shop and hailed a taxi, only texting his boss to let him know that he would be unable to work for a couple of days once he had given the driver directions. The next thirty minutes were some of the worst of Robert's life; every time the taxi got stuck in traffic he felt his anxiety rising. What if he didn't make it? What if Alec was worse than they thought and he died before he got there? He couldn't stop all the possible scenarios from running through his mind, each one worse than the other. He almost cried with relief when he finally saw the large hospital in front of him.

It didn't take him long to run through the automatic front doors and to the man running the desk who looked up at him puzzled as he stood there gasping for air.

"How can I help you Sir?"

"I'm... my son ... was brought here...Alexander Lightwood", Robert managed to wheeze out between gasping breaths.

"Right, let me just have a look for you", the man replied as he typed some things into the computer. Robert used the couple of minutes it took to get an answer to regain his breath. "Well it looks like they took him straight into surgery, there's a waiting room up on the second floor which should be the best place for you to wait".

"Thank you", Robert replied as he walked swiftly away, bypassing the lift in favour of the staircase. It didn't take him long to find the waiting room the receptionist had told him about, and it took even less time to locate his wife sat in one of the plastic chairs in the corner of the room, a glass of water sat forgotten on the table in front of her. Maryse looked up as he came in, and he only had a brief second to note the tears that had been slowly streaming down her face before he was rushing towards her, Maryse meeting him half way as she came towards him.

"It's okay", he whispered as he wrapped her up in a hug, feeling the way she shook as her tears soaked into his shirt. They stood like that for a while, in the middle of the room, silent but for their breaths and the ticking of the large white clock mounted on the wall. After what felt like seconds, but was probably twenty or thirty minutes, Robert heard the door open again and three sets of footsteps rush towards them. Robert looked up at his children; they weren't crying, but Izzy's and Jace's eyes were red and Max looked lost, as if he didn't fully understand what was going on. Robert supposed that being a cartoonist meant that he was a lot less accustomed to death and injuries than his siblings were.

"What happened", Jace asked in an unsteady voice. "I was at work and then all of a sudden dozens of officers are being called to an incident, the news is saying that several roads in Alec's area are shut and then Mum tells me we all had to come to the hospital".

Robert looked sideways at his wife as she wiped her eyes and stood a little straighter, grabbing one of his hands to stop herself anxiously wringing her own. "I don't know yet, they said a policeman was going to come and talk to us once they had a better idea about what happened. One of the ambulance crew who brought Alec in came to find me before your father turned up, they said a large shard of metal had gone through his side and they were concerned that it might have gone through his kidney. They said he might have cracked a few ribs, but they're more concerned about his brain. They said he hit his head pretty hard and they're worried he might have a bleed or something."

"What do they mean by a 'shard of metal'", Izzy asked incredulously.

"I'm not sure; they wouldn't say much they just whisked him off to surgery. That was an hour ago now, and I don't know how long they expect to be."

"Well I guess we just wait then", Max spoke quietly before he settled himself down on one of the chairs, Jace and Izzy sitting down on either side of him and pulling him into a hug. The sight of the three of them pulled the corner of Robert's mouth into a small smile; the one thing he had always been proud of was how much his children loved and cared for each other. He hoped that they never lost that.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Maryse tugging slightly on his hand, leading him back to the corner with a quiet "come on". The five of them sat in silence, listening as the seconds on the clock ticked away; 15 minutes, half an hour, finally an hour before a sombre looking policeman finally entered the waiting room and looked around at them all. Clearly, from the way he looked at Jace, this was someone he knew.

"Good evening, Mr and Mrs Lightwood, Jonathan", the aging man greeted as he sat down opposite them, nodding also to Max and Isabelle.

"Hello Chief", Jace replied.

"Do you know what happened to our son?" Robert knew in the back of his mind that he was probably being rude, that he should have at least said hello, but he couldn't bring himself to care about that right now, not when his boy was lying hurt in an operating theatre.

"We have a rough idea Mr Lightwood. We have no suspects as of yet, but I can guarantee you that we have launched a thorough investigation. Let me introduce myself. I am Detective Chief Superintendant Dave Burrows, I run the Criminal Investigation Department where Jace works, and I have personally assigned some of my most experienced officers to the case ... not Hodge", he added as Jace looked like he was about to interrupt.

"We are, at this moment, treating this as an attempted murder. As you may already be aware, we have shut several roads which will be re-opening once we have collected the evidence we require. It appears that his car was rigged with some sort of explosive device. One couple from the house opposite said they had seen Alexander heading away from the car before it exploded, so I would guess it was meant to detonate once the engine was turned on. Unfortunately, the explosive that destroyed the car also destroyed whatever device was used so we are unable to reach a conclusion on how it was supposed to work. What we can say, is that it was powerful. A good portion of Alexander's house has been destroyed, along with some of the windows from the neighbouring properties."

Burrows paused for a moment to allow them to digest what was said. Although his own mind was racing, he could distantly hear that his wife had started to cry again, he could see that his children were sat horrified at what had happened to their brother. It was several minutes before Burrows spoke again, this time more gently, and in a less impersonal 'business-as-usual' tone of voice.

"I really am very sorry about this", he spoke earnestly. "We already have some ideas that we are pursuing and I'll keep you all up to date as soon as I know something more. Jonathan", he added turning to Jace and speaking once the blonde looked at him again. "I want you to take the week off, more time if you need it".

"No", Jace replied emphatically. "Chief, Alec and I are so close to really figuring out what's going on, that's why this happened! It can't be a coincidence that –"

"What can't be a coincidence, Jonathan?"

Jace bit his lip before replying in a hesitant voice. "Alec and I think there might be some connections to The Circle. And then Hodge came in and saw what we were doing, and now my brother's in hospital."

Robert watched as Detective Chief Superintendent Burrow's mouth set in a grim line. "We have talked about this Jonathan, you cannot come to me accusing Hodge Starkweather until you have some conclusive evidence otherwise it's going to start looking like a vendetta, okay? No work for the rest of the week, take time to process what has happened and come back at it once you are ready."

Burrows stood abruptly and placed the hat that had been on his lap back on. "I'm afraid that's all the information I have for you now, and I know that one of the doctors wants to come in and speak with you all, so I shall not take up any more of your time. I will be in contact soon", he added before turning to the door and stepping aside as a woman with a long lab coat came in and sat down in the chair he had just vacated.

"Good evening all, my name is Dr Loss, I am one of the doctors who are looking after Alexander".

"How is he," Maryse interjected quickly.

"He's doing okay, Mrs Lightwood. He's stable and should make a full recovery. Unfortunately, we did have to remove one of his kidneys due to the damage caused by the piece of metal. He may need to make some lifestyle changes, and we'll have to keep an eye on him, but he should cope just fine."

"What about his brain? The ambulance crew said he hit his head pretty hard".

"He did, but the worst we found was a fracture, no signs of bruising, bleeding or any other internal damage. However, he does have a broken wrist and his broken ribs did cause one of his lungs to collapse. We have treated this, but in future it is something else he'll want to keep an eye on. We'll debrief him fully when he's discharged and we'll give him some leaflets that he can take back with him.

Do you have any questions for me?"

Of course, it was Izzy who cut in first. "When can we see him?"

"Soon", the doctor smiled. "We're just finishing up with him, and then we'll move him into one of the beds. He is still unconscious, and we would prefer it if he rested for a while, so I can only let you all in for a short while. But by tomorrow, he should be awake and rested enough for more substantial visiting. Just make sure you keep him calm, which means no talking about work", she added playfully as she glanced around at us all.

"You know what my brother does?"

"Who doesn't? I have a feeling the media will be all over this once they figure out who it is that got hurt. I don't want you to worry about that, we have security that can stop them from entering the premises. And if we need to, we can sneak you in and out of the staff entrance.

Now, I best get back and help get Alexander settled. I'll come back and get you once we're ready. Try not to worry, he has a lot of bruising which makes it seem a lot worse than it is, but he's a very lucky young man, if he was any closer to his car than he was, things would be far more serious."

With one last smile at them all, Dr Loss left the room, leaving the family once more in silence. Robert shared a quick smile with his wife, allowing himself to take in the fact that Alec would really be okay. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his other children relax a bit more, the tension seeping out of them as Max stood up to go to the coffee machine. The smile Izzy gave him once she caught him watching was enough to warm his heart.

It turns out that they didn't have to wait too much longer as the doctor returned just half an hour later. Alec was tucked away in a corner of the floor, "to try and give him some privacy" Dr Loss had said, and it took several long, winding corridors until they reached his room.

The doctor may have warned them but Robert wasn't quite ready for the sight that greeted him. Ever since he was young Alec had always been tall for his age, but for the first time he just looked small. Wires ran everywhere and there were different tubes carrying liquids of varying colours. Bandages covered the arm that was visible whilst the side of his face was completely covered in severe bruising. He couldn't take his eyes away from it, not even when he heard his wife's startled breath or the strangled noise that one of his children made.

"As you can see he's still asleep", the doctor said behind him. "I know you all probably want to spend more time with him, but it really is best if he rests right now."

"It's okay, we can come back later", Maryse spoke quietly next to him.

They had only just stepped outside of the room when Robert paused again and turned towards the doctor. "Is it okay if I stay in the room with him? I won't talk or anything, I'll let him rest."

"Robert", Maryse interjected.

"Maryse please, I can't leave him". Robert wasn't sure what she saw in his eyes, but it was enough to convince her to nod reluctantly. "Go with the children, I'll see you all tomorrow morning".

"But Dad –"

"Please Jace, go with your mother. I have to sit with him, it's..."

 _It's all my fault_.

"It's just something I have to do, okay." He stared into his golden eyes, willing him to understand until eventually the blonde conceded.

"I'll call you all the second he wakes up".

Robert watched as they all walked away and turned once more to Doctor Loss, prepared to do as much pleading as it would take to convince her to let him stay.

"You'll sit in the corner, and you won't wake him up, and if a doctor asks you to leave you'll come out here", she said in a stern voice as she turned to face him with raised eyebrows.

"Absolutely", Robert replied earnestly.

"In you go then, and call for us if you think he's starting to wake up".

She had barely finished speaking before Robert stepped into the room and settled himself into the chair furthest away from Alec's bed. He tried not to look too closely at the injuries that were clearly visible, tried not to think too much about the injuries that were hidden, all the while thinking about all the mistakes he had made and wondering whether if he had done anything different, his son may not be lying there at all.

* * *

August 1972

It was a long time past his bed time. Robert wasn't sure how long he had been in bed, staring at the ceiling, but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't sleep, even if his mum would be upset with him. He could hear her crying through his bedroom wall. She never cried during the day, she read him stories and did some colouring in with him. He wouldn't let her play with his planes though, that was only for dad.

Robert didn't like thinking about his dad anymore, it made him sad. He doesn't like being sad, because now his dad isn't there to make it better and he knows that his mum is sad too, even if she doesn't show him. But it's hard not to think at night because he has nothing to do and he can't turn the light on because then everyone will know he's awake, so he lies there and thinks about the last time his dad took him to the park and wonders if his mum would want to go if he asked.

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts. "Robbie", his brother's voice floated through the door. "Are you awake?"

"Yes", he replied softly, wondering whether his brother was coming to tell him off. His brother was only four years older than he was, but he always liked to boss him around, and tell him off, and make him bring him drinks and books. But he was 10 now; soon his brother wouldn't be able to boss him around at all. Or tell him off. He watched as Benedict opened the door and walked in, shutting the door behind him and walking towards the edge of the bed.

"Do you want a hug?"

Robert watched him with wide eyes before he nodded a little, unable to speak around the tightness he suddenly felt in his throat. His brother took his glasses off before getting into the bed and pulling him into a hug. His brother didn't hug him like this very often, but he liked it when he did (not that he'd ever tell Benedict). It made him feel safe. And not so sad. He wasn't sure when he started crying, but once he noticed the water running down his cheeks he kept gasping in shallow breaths as he tried to make it stop.

"It's alright Robert", his brother told him as he wiped his tears away. "It's okay to be sad".

"I just want him back", Robert whispered miserably.

"I know, so do I". Benedict paused for a while before he spoke again without looking at him. "But you know I'll look after you, yes? I won't let anything happen to you."

"But what if you go away too?"

"I won't", his brother replied.

"Okay", Robert answered.

His brother looked at him for a minute, his gaze searching. "Where's Bertie?"

Robert grumbled a response into his brother's shoulder.

"Sorry, what was that Robbie?"

"I said I'm too old for a teddy now. I'm ten, I'm all grown up."

Robert decided on his birthday a couple of months ago that ten was simply too old to still sleep with a teddy bear, so he had put Bertie in the bottom shelf in his drawers (he did pull it out a little so he had some air to breathe, he wasn't cruel you know). But he secretly regretted his decision; he missed Bertie and he wanted him back. But he also wanted to be a grown up, and he was quite certain that adults didn't have teddies. And he didn't think that Benedict did anymore and he didn't want Benedict to think he was still a baby.

"I know you are Robert, but don't you miss him? It's okay to have a teddy bear." His brother paused as he watched him and gave him a small smile. "I still have mine".

"Really?"

"Yep. Why don't you go and get Bertie and we'll see if that helps you get to sleep."

Robert scrambled out of bed quickly and dashed over to his chest of drawers, pulling the bottom one out and carefully tucking Bertie under his arm and running back to bed, giving his brother a big smile as he did. He watched Benedict get up as he climbed back onto the furniture, and frowned at his brother as he looked ready to leave.

"Benedict?"

"Yes Robbie?"

"Will you stay here tonight, I don't want to be on my own", Robert replied in a small voice.

"Of course", his brother smiled at him. "I told you I wouldn't leave, didn't I?"

* * *

1976-1977

"What do you mean you're going?" It had been four years since their father died, and Benedict had always kept the promise he made that night. He took Robert to the park and helped him with his homework. When he had an afterschool activity that he wanted to go to he always came to pick him up while his mum was at work. Sometimes Benedict even made them dinner if mum had to stay late. But most importantly he was _there_. Always, whenever Robert needed someone to talk to. He was his best friend, and now Benedict was telling him that he was leaving.

"It's just to university Robbie –"

"Urgh, please don't call me that", Robert replied. "I'm fourteen, not four."

"Okay, _Robert_ ", Benedict replied with a roll of his eyes. "The point is it's just to university. I'm not leaving the country. I'll come down to visit or you and mum can come and see me sometimes. Plus, there'll be no getting rid of me during the holidays. And we can write, every week if you want."

"Do you promise?"

"I told you I'd look after you, didn't I?"

Robert shared a smile with his brother before they both tucked into the ice-cream that they had bought. Robert spent the next couple of months trying to prepare for when his brother would be leaving: he got him to teach him how to cook, he went into town by himself more, and walked back from afterschool clubs alone. But that didn't make his brother leaving any easier. Maybe he had grown to depend on him too much over the last four years, but it seemed that despite the work that he had done to make himself used to being more self-sufficient, his brother leaving was still hard.

It took weeks to get used to the house just being himself and his mum. It was quiet, especially as she still worked long hours to make sure she could look after them both. He went to as many activities as he could; football, art, and even learning how to play the recorder so he wouldn't have to be at home alone, but it didn't seem to work. The first Monday after Benedict left he got a letter from his brother telling him all about his room, and his course and his new friends and that he was looking forward to Robert coming to visit him. It was the first time since Benedict had gone that he felt really happy, and he wasted no time in writing a letter straight back. For the first month, what was supposed to be weekly letters turned into letters every couple of days, and Robert found that actually, he could get used to the silence around the house as long as he could still write to his brother with his problems.

But then after a month, the letters became less frequent. Benedict had too much work to do, he said, so sometimes he forgot to write. But his letters always came at least every other week, and that was okay because he knew it wouldn't be long until his brother was home for Christmas.

When he did come home, Benedict didn't have the time to spend with him as he usually did, but it didn't bother Robert too much. They ate together, in the evenings they would play cards or other board games and they managed to go out once or twice whilst Benedict was home. Yet it was after Christmas when everything changed.

Gradually, Benedict's letters dropped off, and when they did come it was to tell him that he couldn't come home for Easter because he had to do more work than he thought in order to be ready for his exams, but he would definitely be home for the summer and he had already planned something fun for them to do.

Robert sat on a bench in the park re-reading that last letter with a small frown on his face, glaring at the paper as if it had personally wronged him itself.

"Are you okay there, kid?"

Robert jumped at the sudden voice, having been so caught up in his brother's letter that he didn't notice that someone had approached him. Looking up he saw it was the blonde man that he had often seen in the park when he had come to play football with his brother. His black eyes were trained on him, and when he noticed that Robert had finally looked up, he gave him a cold smile which did nothing to warm them.

"Fine", Robert replied in a clipped tone. "Thank you". He meant to sound dismissive, after all his parents had often warned him not to talk to people he didn't know, and there was something about the dark eyes that he found unnerving. He was tempted to get up and walk away, but since the other man looked to be even older than Benedict was, he thought that if he really wanted to talk to him he would easily catch up. Best to stay where there were other people in sight, Robert decided instead.

"Are you sure? You look like you want to set fire to that letter". There was a slight pause before the other man continued in an inquisitive tone. "Say, where's that other kid you normally come here with? I'm guessing he's your brother?"

"He's at university", Robert replied stiffly, looking around to see if the man had come to the park with anybody else. "Are you here alone?"

"Oh no, I've brought my niece. She's over there picking daisies". Robert turned to look to where the man was pointing, where a young girl with long blonde hair was indeed picking flowers. "I best go and see if she's okay. Try and cheer up kid, you don't want to start worrying at your age".

With that the blonde man walked off, and Robert found that he could relax. Feeling unnerved, he decided to leave the park straight away, checking over his shoulder every now and again to make sure that he wasn't being followed.

He didn't return to the park for almost a week. At first, it was because he still wasn't sure about the man that he had encountered. Then, it was because it was constantly raining and he could only just find it in him to leave the house in order to go to school. However, the start of April brought some good weather, so Robert, deciding that he had spent far too much time stuck indoors, chose to go to the park again, this time taking his football with him. It wasn't the same, playing on his own, so after a while he just chose to sit on another bench and watched as the clouds went by.

This time, he was aware of the other man's presence before he spoke to him. "You know, you're really good with the football".

Robert looked at him warily. "Thank you".

"I guess your brother taught you how to play?" The other man sat on the opposite end of the bench as he spoke.

"No, my father did".

"Oh. How come he hasn't come to play?"

"He's dead", Robert replied bluntly. It was not a topic that he liked to talk about, and the other man must have noticed that as he offered him an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry", the man replied. "I would offer to play a game, but I was always hopeless at sport".

Robert watched the other man carefully for a minute, once again trying to weigh up whether it was safer to just walk away or stay where other people could see him.

"Why do you keep coming to talk to me?"

The blonde man just shrugged his shoulders a little. "You looked lonely, and I wanted to check you were okay. I lost both of my parents when I was young, and I made some pretty stupid decisions. I guess I wondered why you were alone and I wanted to make sure you had someone that you could talk to. I bring my niece most afternoons", he added as he nodded toward the girl who was playing with a plastic ball. "So if you ever do want to talk to me, feel free to come on over."

Robert just nodded as the other man got up to walk away. He did not approach the man for a week after his offer. He just sat and watched as he played catch with his niece or chased her around the park. After a week though, he saw the man sat on a bench, his niece a short distance away, and Robert decided that he would sit with him. He sat silently for a few minutes as he thought about what it was he wanted to say.

"I miss him", he finally said.

"Who?"

"My brother", Robert clarified. "After my dad ... he was always there. He looked after me. We talked. And then he goes off to uni, and he's just ... gone".

"Not permanently though", the blonde man pointed out. "He'll be back over the summer."

"I know that", Robert added. "But he also said we would write every week and that we'd visit each other, and it hasn't happened."

"And so you think he might not come back over the summer", the blonde man added.

"Well he didn't over Easter".

"That is an understandable concern, but it's an unavoidable part of growing up. Sometimes the people we expect to always be there can't be. But that doesn't mean he loves you any less, it just means that sometimes he has to do other things. You shouldn't be angry at your brother for living his life; you'll get your turn. And at the end of the day, you'll still have each other."

"I'm not angry", Robert grumbled in a way which even to his own ears sounded like a complete lie.

"A part of you is. And I understand; I was angry for a long time. But it never helped me, and it won't help you, so stop it before it settles in because it's the anger that will destroy your relationship, not the distance. Just talk when he comes back, and you'll see it'll be okay. Now I have to go or my sister will yell at me for staying out too late".

"Thank you", Robert replied.

"Any time kid". The blonde man laughed as Robert frowned at the word. "Okay, no more kid. What's your name then?"

"Robert".

"Nice to meet you Robert", the blonde man said, holding out a hand to shake. "My name's Valentine."

After that, Robert talked to the other man every time he saw him in the park. He helped him to stop being angry, to understand his brother more. He encouraged him with his school work whenever he said he didn't see the point in it anymore, reminding him that he can't build planes if he doesn't pass his exams. They fell into easy conversations, and Robert found that he was trusting the other man more and more, any unease that he had originally felt having disappeared a long time ago.

"Thank you", Robert said one day in May as the two were sat on a bench.

"What for?"

"For helping me. The last month has been a lot easier", Robert gave him a small smile.

"You're very welcome Robert, but I don't mind helping out my friends. Yes friend", he added at the surprised look Robert gave him. "It doesn't matter that we're not the same age. I trust you, and I like to talk to you, and that in my opinion makes us friends."

"I trust you too", Robert replied with a shy smile.

"That's good", Valentine replied. It was quiet for a minute before the other man spoke again, his words more measured. "You know, since we trust each other, I was wondering whether you wanted a job".

"A paid job", Robert asked, intrigue clear on his face.

"Oh yes", Valentine replied with an easy smile. "It's very straight forward, but with my other commitments I find that I just don't have time to do it myself. I run a delivery service. People can order all sorts of things from me: books, clothes, art supplies. You name it, I can deliver it. But I'm finding that I'm running out of time to do the delivery and I have a backlog of stock that needs to be sent out. Since it is such a vital part of my business, I would only offer it to people I really trust. And I trust you Robert; you've shown me that you're a good person. I would be very grateful if you could help me out."

"Of course", Robert replied with an easy smile. "But ... it won't take up too much time right? Mum will go mad if I don't get all my school work done."

"Oh no of course not", Valentine replied with a dismissive wave. "A couple of hours a week at an absolute maximum. And you'll find that the money is very good for the degree of effort that the task requires. So can I take it you'll accept?"

Robert thought for a moment before answering. "Okay".

"Brilliant", Valentine responded with his cold smile.

Robert had been delivering Valentine's packages for a couple of weeks by the time his brother had returned. It was always to the same people, and if you asked Robert, they didn't all look trustworthy. But he was getting paid good money to deliver the parcels and Valentine was happy with his work, so he kept his concerns to himself. He was also able to hide his job from his mother, telling her that he was going to study in the park now the weather was nicer and hiding his money under a loose floorboard that no one knew about.

Hiding his job became harder once his brother came home and the arrival of summer meant that Valentine was asking him to make deliveries that were a bit further out and took him longer to get to. He was out on one of these deliveries the day his brother came home. He didn't know when he was supposed to be back, and to say that he was uncomfortable with seeing his brother whilst he had a pile of cash in his bag was an understatement.

"Robert", his brother called enthusiastically as he stepped into the living room.

"Hey Benedict", Robert replied as his brother engulfed him in a hug. He took a moment to enjoy the embrace, thinking about how much he had missed his brother over the last couple of months. "I missed you", he added in a small voice.

"I'm sorry", Benedict replied earnestly. "I missed you too, Robbie. I didn't realise how much work there'd be. It caught me by surprise, that's all. But I'll do better next year, no months of silence I promise. Where were you today?"

"Out with friends. I do actually have some you know", Robert replied perhaps a bit too harshly.

"I didn't think otherwise", Benedict replied. "Where'd you meet them?"

"At the park", Robert replied.

"And how old are these friends?" Benedict watched his brother carefully as he waited for an answer.

"A year older than me", Robert replied fighting the urge to look away guiltily. He had lied. To his brother. He had never done that before. For an agonising second he thought his brother would never believe him, but then Benedict just smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Good, I'm glad you're making friends. Just don't forget about me this summer, I wasn't lying when I said I had some great plans for us".

The two brothers laughed as they made their way upstairs, Robert diverting to his room quickly to dump his bag before joining his brother. After that, they caught up, played board games, and got dinner ready for when their mother came home. In fact, they spent a lot of time together that summer. Yet, for Robert, it wasn't the same.

Because that lie he told his brother was not the only lie he told him. And the more he lied, the worse he felt about it. Yet despite this unease, he carried on working for Valentine, delivering his parcels wherever he wanted them. It wasn't until September that he finally realised what was in them.

But by then it was too late. There was no way for him to leave.

* * *

1980

His life had spiralled out of control, and he didn't know what he could do about it. He had been in The Circle for four years, and his position had changed dramatically. He was no longer just a delivery boy; Valentine had other young teenagers he could use for that. Now, he was an Enforcer. One of a dozen people Valentine trusted enough to enforce his rules. A new recruit threatened to leave? One of the windows of their house was to be smashed in. A week delay on payment? A broken nose. A Month? A broken limb; if you were lucky. Either that or you worked until your debt was paid off. Sometimes, Valentine made a relative work for them. Nobody stole from Valentine. If you did it once, you wouldn't do it again and they'd find you a month later face down in the Thames. Sometimes, they never found you at all.

Robert was relieved that he was a low-level Enforcer: so far, he had done no more than break a couple of limbs. He still felt awful though; some nights, he would wake up in a cold sweat, only just making it to the bathroom in time to empty the contents of his stomach down the toilet and not down his clothes. This was harder to keep from his brother when he was at home. He always heard him dashing to the toilet, and he always came to ask if he was okay. Robert always brushed him off with a grumbled 'I'm fine'. That didn't stop Benedict from trying to get the truth out of him: he'd question his long absences, intercept him as he went to leave the house or ask him how his school work was going. In truth, Robert hadn't been going to school since he was 15. He never even got any qualifications. Not that he'd tell Benedict that. He'd say that school was hard and he was in a study group which is why he wasn't around a lot, and that he really had to leave otherwise he would be late and that would be rude. He knew Benedict didn't believe him, but there was nothing his brother could do but remind him that he would help him with whatever he needed, no questions asked. But Robert never asked; it was too dangerous and he wouldn't make his brother pay the price for his own mistakes. It was easier now that Benedict was studying across Europe, he should be safer.

It wasn't like Robert hadn't tried to leave. He had, several times. At first, Valentine just threatened to report his crimes to the police. To begin with, this was enough to get Robert to stay; he was young and he was scared of what having a criminal record would do. Yet after a while, even the threat of a permanent record and time behind bars was outweighed by the increasing role Valentine expected of him. The first time he had to break someone's nose was the second time that Robert started thinking seriously about leaving. Somehow, this must have shown in his behaviour as he went home the next day to find his living room window had been broken into a thousand shards. Robert never thought about trying to leave again after that; the next step would involve his brother, he just knew it. And he couldn't let that happen. So he kept his head down and did whatever Valentine asked of him, no questions asked.

And it was ironic, really, that the only good thing to happen to him in those four years also threatened to make everything so much worse. Valentine used love as a weapon, and the more people you loved, the greater the control he had over you. Finding love was purely accidental. They had met at a cafe when they were 16, both of them arriving at the last empty table at the same time. There was a minute of awkward silence and then Robert was just about to suggest that she take the table when he thought he'd take a chance.

" _We could always share" he'd said with a shy smile, watching in delight as he got a small smile in return._

" _Okay then", the blue eyed girl replied, taking a seat and pushing her long, black hair behind her. "I'm Maryse", she said, holding out a hand for him to shake._

" _Robert", he replied before sitting opposite her._

It had been a little awkward at first, with neither of them knowing what to say. But in the end they stayed for hours, talking about everything and anything that came to mind. After that, they would meet at the same cafe every Wednesday. Then they started going on dates: to restaurants, to the cinema, the bowling alley. Sometimes, Robert would bring her flowers. The nicest flowers he could find in the shop. Sometimes it was a chocolate muffin. He'd even bought her a necklace and a few bracelets. She never asked him how he could afford it, and he never offered an explanation.

They'd been together for almost a year before Valentine requested that he bring her round to dinner to meet his wife. It was the moment he had been dreading. He spent the days leading up to the dinner wondering what he should do, whether he should tell her about the dinner or just pretend that she was busy in order to buy himself more time. Whether he should tell her about Valentine so she'd know what she was walking into. But he didn't want to run the risk that the knowledge would make her uncomfortable around Valentine, a fact which would almost certainly stop the blonde man from liking her. Although if he was honest, his silence may have been more to do with the fact that he was terrified she would leave when she found out. He didn't think he could cope with that. So he kept quiet, and they went to dinner as planned, Maryse believing that Valentine was an old family friend.

He had been terrified during that dinner, so stressed that it was almost impossible for him to eat. He knew how important that September night was. Everyone knew that Jocelyn was the only person that Valentine trusted completely, the only one who could ever get him to do what they wanted. Robert wasn't quite sure what her exact role in The Circle was, but he knew that if he wanted Maryse to be safe, it was essential that Jocelyn liked her. His fears were allayed within half-an-hour of them sitting down to eat; the two women talking and laughing with one another as if they were old friends, hugging briefly before they had to leave. Robert looked to the side and was relieved to see Valentine give him a small smile.

Within the week, the decision about whether to tell Maryse about The Circle or not had been taken from him; Jocelyn asked her to join. It turned out that Jocelyn was in charge of recruiting more women to the gang, and she thought that Maryse would be a natural at securing more admissions. To say that Maryse was furious with him was an understatement. She had yelled at him, with tears running down her face and told him that she never wanted to see him again. She pushed him out of her parents' house before he could explain himself.

Two weeks passed before he saw her again. Jocelyn had asked her a couple more times about joining, before simply telling Maryse that it was the only way for Jocelyn to keep her safe. Valentine didn't like people who didn't work for The Circle knowing about it, so Maryse, much like Robert, found herself trapped. She sought him out after that, finding him sat in the cafe where they had met and demanded to know why he would endanger her like that if he loved her as much as he claimed.

" _Because I'm weak",_ he had replied. " _Because you are the only good thing I had going in my life and I couldn't bear to see you walk away. I thought it would keep you safe, if I didn't tell you. But then Valentine wanted to see you, and well, you know he isn't someone you can really say no to."_

" _But what I don't understand", Maryse replied as she sank down in the chair opposite him and folded her arms across her chest, "is why you would join his gang of thugs in the first place. You've been nothing but gentle and kind all the time I've known you. Or are you going to tell me that was all a lie too?"_

She had looked both old and young when she had confronted him in that cafe. The fear shining in her brilliant blue eyes made her look very much like the teenager she was, but her determination, her insistence on getting the answers to difficult questions, made her seem far older. He told her everything that day; all the decisions he had made and all of his mistakes and regrets. Everything.

Maryse didn't forgive him straight away. It took two months of work, for her to trust him again and he made sure he deserved it. He kept no more secrets; anything she wanted to know, he would tell her, regardless of whether it was good or bad. She knew exactly what Valentine had him doing, she knew of his insecurities and his desires. It had been a difficult two months for both of them, and on more than a few occasions, Robert found himself wondering if they were really going to make it. But they did, and on the 15th January 1980 they married.

Robert wasn't entirely sure how that happened. They were spending New Year's Eve alone in Maryse's parents' house, and suddenly he was saying that getting married would be a great way to start the year. They wanted a fresh start on their relationship, and what better way was there then beginning a new chapter of it? He was shocked that he had suggested it, but he was even more surprised that Maryse had agreed. They were only seventeen at that moment so they knew they'd have to convince their parents. His mum was easy enough; she adored Maryse and agreed straight away. Maryse's parents took more convincing, but Maryse was even more stubborn than they were and managed to wear them down eventually.

Some people might think that they were insane for marrying so young, and only months after their relationship took a significant stumble. In fact, Robert often saw the look of incredulity on others' faces when they realised they were married. But he didn't care; he couldn't, not when it led him to this moment, when he was sat in bed with his baby in his arms and his wife asleep next to him.

He hadn't known fear like it, when Maryse went into labour almost six weeks early. He was convinced that the baby wouldn't make it, that something would go wrong. But he could see that Maryse was terrified so he pushed his fears down as he drove far too fast to the hospital. His fear only increased with the news that she would need a caesarean section. He phoned his brother, told him about what was happening, but even his soothing words couldn't calm him down. The baby, Alexander as they went on to call him, was tiny and Robert couldn't help but dwell on just how fragile he looked. He did have to spend a couple of weeks in a neo-natal care unit, but today they were able to bring him home. They fussed, a lot. Maryse triple checking the bag they were bringing to the hospital, making sure that they had packed everything they needed whilst Robert went around making sure the house was safe and a cot was ready for the baby to sleep in.

By the time the evening came around, Robert was utterly exhausted, and he could understand how Maryse had fallen asleep so quickly. But he couldn't bring himself to join her, not whilst his son looked up at him with the biggest, bluest eyes he had ever seen. He smiled when the baby gurgled at him, carefully running his finger down his cheek before standing to put him in the cot.

"Go to sleep, Alexander", Robert spoke quietly so as not to wake his sleeping wife. "Daddy won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise". It didn't take Robert long to fall asleep after that, not when he was the happiest he could remember being.

* * *

1982

Robert's legs burnt and his chest felt constricted, as if he was trying to breathe through a straw. But he didn't stop running, not until he was hurtling through his front door, slamming it behind him and locking the door. He could vaguely hear Maryse's concerned "Robert", and Alexander's happy "Dada", but the sick feeling in his stomach drove him to the bathroom before he could say hello. Hunched over the toilet seat, for the first time that evening Robert let himself cry, the guilt he felt doing nothing to settle his stomach. When he was finally finished he stood and splashed his face with cold water, taking a couple more minutes to calm down before he went to see his son.

He left the bathroom and walked towards the living room, using the time it took to go down the hallway to paste a smile on his face. As expected, Alexander was stood by the doorway waiting for him, his arms up demanding a hug. He was 17 months old and was walking well now, the number of words he had mastered increasing daily.

"Why hello there, Alexander", Robert greeted as he lifted the child up and smiled at the delighted laugh he got.

"Dada", Alexander replied looking at Robert happily.

"I missed you too, but I thought you were supposed to be in bed".

"He wouldn't go to sleep until he saw you", Maryse replied tiredly from the sofa, a hand resting on her pregnant stomach.

"Is that so", Robert replied looking at his son. "Then I guess I best put you to bed so Mummy can rest".

It didn't take too long for Alexander to go to sleep; Robert had barely finished the story by the time his eyes had shut. He was thankful for this; he didn't have the strength to battle with a stubborn child, not today. He walked slowly back to the living room, only just noticing that Jocelyn had come to pay his wife a visit.

"What's the matter Robert?"

Maryse spoke the second he stepped into the room, her blue eyes shining with fear and concern. He tried to find a smile for her, but instead all he found was tears. He thought he'd stopped with the crying. He let her pull him into a hug for a couple of minutes before he kissed her on the cheek and pushed her gently back towards the sofa. He opened his mouth to speak before snapping it shut and glancing warily at Jocelyn.

"It's okay Robert", Maryse said gently. "You can say anything you want in front of her".

Yet still, he sat in silence. He had trusted other people too easily before, and look at where that had gotten him.

"Perhaps it is best if I speak first", Jocelyn offered. She continued speaking after Robert gave a curt nod of his head. "I was just informing Maryse that there are those of us who are getting uncomfortable with what Valentine is choosing to do." Robert maintained her stare when she turned her eyes on him. "I assume that is what has upset you so much tonight".

"He's gone too far", Robert found himself saying before he could stop himself. "They didn't have to do it. The punishment for delayed payment is work or a limb. That is all. It's all it's always been. I didn't know", he added as he looked pleadingly at his wife. "I didn't know they planned to do it, I didn't even know they had it on them. I tried to tell them just to get the man to work for us, but they wouldn't listen to me."

"What did they do, Robert?" Maryse gave nothing away, her voice flat and devoid of any emotion, judgement or understanding.

"This man, he was a month behind on his payments. We had to go and collect it from him. He was only in his thirties, young enough to be useful to Valentine. I was just telling him that his debt would be considered paid after three months of work but just then his daughter came down the stairs to see him. I think she's about 8. I don't know what happened, some of the guys pushed their way into his house and then she's screaming and I didn't know what to do. They'd found some acid", he looked at his wide when he heard her sharp intake of breath. "It went in her eyes Maryse. And they just laughed. I though Valentine would be mad at them; they broke the rules, didn't enforce the law as it was meant to. But he was proud, he actually gave them bonuses and told them if they kept it up they'd be promoted in no time.

She was just a child", he whispered looking at the floor. "And now her life is ruined. Maryse I can't do it anymore, but I need you and Alexander to be safe. You should –"

"You better not end that sentence with a suggestion that involves leaving you behind, Robert", Maryse replied sternly.

"But it doesn't matter what happens to me", Robert exclaimed loudly, only lowering his voice to a fierce whisper once he remembered the child sleeping upstairs. "I got myself into this, me. And I am the one who has to pay the price. You didn't ask for this Maryse, and our children need to be safe. You have to go".

"No".

"Maryse please", Robert pleaded.

"I said no Robert. I knew what I was getting myself into when I married you. I'm not going to abandon you now; if we fight we fight together."

"That's actually why I came to see Maryse tonight", Jocelyn supplied. "I told you that some of us are getting concerned with the way things are going, and this was the final straw. Lucian told me what happened tonight after one of the men phoned Valentine. We knew that the two of you weren't completely happy with your roles here, and thought that you might be willing to help us."

"And what's your plan?"

"Go to the police, offer to tell them everything. They should give you immunity in exchange for information about Valentine; he's been on their wanted list for years. Lucian, Stephen and I will testify for you. That way, we get Valentine behind bars and without him, The Circle will end."

Robert thought for a couple of minutes. "Are you sure about this, Jocelyn? If it goes wrong, it won't just be us paying the price for it. It'll be all of the kids. I mean Stephen and Céline have only just had Jonathan. Is everyone absolutely sure about this?"

"A hundred percent", Jocelyn replied. "We can't sit by anymore, and we won't. We know the risks, but if we just get to the police we'll be fine. So we have to do it fast, tomorrow."

"What if Valentine has people working in the police?"

"He doesn't", Jocelyn replied confidently. "I know everybody in The Circle and none of them works in the police."

"Okay then", Robert looked over to his wife to see her nodding her head. "Tomorrow we go to the police, and we finish this once and for all". His nerves must have shown in his voice for his wife got off of the sofa to come and place a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay Robert", Maryse smiled. "You'll see".

* * *

1990

Robert thought they were safe. It had been years since the case against Valentine collapsed, sabotaged by a corrupt officer none of them knew Valentine had working for him. Their new identities had worked well; they had a new home, Robert and Maryse had new jobs and the children were happy. But most importantly, they were safe.

Sometimes, that fact made Robert feel incredibly guilty.

Stephen and Céline hadn't been so lucky. They'd turned up after the case collapsed, just minutes before Robert and Maryse had been moved. They left Jonathan with them, saying that they knew Valentine was after them, making Robert and Maryse promise to look after the boy and not tell him about what they'd done. They swiftly promised, watching as the couple kissed their son goodbye. The next time they saw them, their faces were posted on the front cover of every major newspaper. Their bodies had been found just 72 hours later.

No one knew what happened to Jocelyn and Lucian. Robert hadn't heard from them since the day the case collapsed. Maybe they were dead, maybe they were in hiding. He didn't know, so he tried not to think about it too much.

The first couple of years were difficult; they spent all their time looking over their shoulder, raising three young children, or fighting. At first they would just bicker about small things; about what to give the kids for dinner or what they would watch on TV. But gradually the arguments increased until they couldn't speak without exchanging cruel remarks designed to hurt. Until one day Maryse told him she didn't think she could do it anymore.

But their lives were tied together, Valentine had ensured that. There could be no safety for them if they went their separate ways so they had no choice; they had to work it out. And they did. It took a year for them to rebuild their relationship, to make it stronger than it had been before. They slept separately, Robert setting up the sofa once all the children had gone upstairs. They talked about what was bothering them, about the mistakes that they had made and how they could put it right. But most importantly, they had a rule that every day they had to say one thing they loved about the other. And in the end, they were as happy as they could be in a life of constant fear.

It all came crashing down at 11 PM on the 23rd February 1990. The shrill ringing of the landline woke Robert from a deep sleep. He sighed heavily as he swung his feet out of bed and made his way down the stairs to the phone. He reached it just before the ringing ended.

"Hello", he said, his voice still scratchy from sleep.

" _Robert_?"

"Benedict? Why are you calling so late?"

There was a pause where Robert could hear his brother's unsettled breathing down the phone. " _The police think I've murdered this family. They've charged me Robert; I don't know what I'm going to do_ ".

"It'll be okay Benedict, just stay calm. You didn't do it, and we'll just have to prove it. I'll come and see you tomorrow okay?"

" _Okay. I love you Robert."_

"I love you too, brother. Now try and get some sleep."

When Robert saw his brother the next day it was clear that he hadn't slept at all. There were huge bags under his eyes, and his hands were red from where he had been scratching at them anxiously. And the fear, there was so much fear in his dark eyes that Robert didn't know what to do. Benedict had always been the smart one, collected enough to always think up a plan. Benedict was the one he always depended on, and he wasn't sure about what it was he was supposed to do.

"Do you know what evidence they have against you?"

"Some DNA, my barrister said. A load of witnesses saying I was there. How convenient for them that my only defence was that I was at home reading. I don't have anyone to prove where I was. The best they have is a load of co-workers telling them that I'm a nice guy really and they have it all wrong."

"There must be something they can do though? Can't your barrister go back over the evidence? Are you sure they checked everything? Do you need to get a better barrister? I don't have much but I can give you as much as I can."

"Robbie", his brother replied briefly touching his hand. It had been years since his brother had called him that and it made him feel like a child, made him feel that someone was looking after him. "There is nothing more that they can do. They've done everything in their power to find something; we just have to hope that is enough. As long as my family believe me, I'll be okay."

"Of course I believe you; I know you wouldn't do something like this."

And that's when Robert realised he'd let his guard down. No one crossed Valentine and escaped unpunished.

"Robert are you okay? You look a little pale."

"It's my fault", Robert replied as he looked at his brother with wide eyes shimmering with tears.

"Don't be daft, it's not like you killed them."

"I might as well have", Robert replied furiously. "This is my punishment. You. Watching you suffer and knowing that it's because of me. That's what he wants."

Benedict. "Who?"

"Valentine. I lied to you Benedict, I've been lying to you for years. I was so lonely when you went and he was so nice and I swear I didn't know at first or I wouldn't have done it. And then when I did realise it, I couldn't leave or they'd hurt you or tell the police."

"Tell the police what Robert?"

"That I was part of a gang", Robert whispered with his eyes shut. "That I've done some terrible things; hurt people and ruined lives. I am so ashamed, Benedict. But this isn't right, I'll go to Valentine, it's me he wants. They'll let you out then."

"Absolutely not", Benedict replied fiercely. "You've made some stupid choices Robert and I won't lie to you, I am so disappointed in you right now. But you will not do that to Maryse, to your children. You will not leave them without a father."

"But you can't pay for my mistakes Benedict, I won't let you! I have to put this right."

"Damn it Robert", his brother replied angrily. He had never seen Benedict that mad before. "You listen to me now. Those kids need you; no one needs me like that. If anyone has to suffer, it'll be me. I get that you're trying to do the right thing, but it won't help anyone. It's best if you just keep quiet and let me take the blame for this".

"I need you", Robert replied quietly. "I don't know how I would have gotten through the difficult years in my marriage if you hadn't been there to help me. Plus the kids love you; they'll miss you if you go to prison."

"And I'll miss them, you know that. But they don't need me in the same way as they need their father. You know this. And besides", Benedict added in a gentle tone, "I'll still be here if you do need me, just slightly less accessible."

"It's not funny Benedict."

"No it isn't", his brother conceded. "But I mean it Robert, just stay quiet and stay away from Valentine. Do you promise me?"

"Benedict –"

"Promise me Robert, I mean it. If you want to help me I need you to promise me that you will live your life, look after those kids and make sure they're safe. Okay?"

"Okay", Robert replied resignedly. "I promise".

Robert spent months trying to change Benedict's mind, but it never worked. Instead, he sat and watched as on the 19th October 1990 his brother was given a whole life tariff for murders he hadn't committed.

Robert's punishment had begun.

* * *

17th November 1995

 _Dead. Deaddeaddeaddeaddeaddeaddead._

The word had run through his mind over and over again since the prison guard visited two hours ago. It was his day off and the house was empty, Maryse having gone to work and the kids to school. He had just sat down to eat his lunch when the doorbell rang, two sombre looking officers stood shoulder to shoulder on his doorstep. They had been kind, they spoke gently as if they were trying to make what they had to say easier.

But is there really an easy way to tell someone that their brother was dead?

They offered to stay to help him break the news to his family, to make sure that he was okay, but he sent them away. Maryse would just panic if she saw a police car in the drive way and he didn't want to upset the kids. So he sat in his armchair, his lunch long forgotten as he thought about what they told him. There was only one thing he could think of: it was his fault.

He had to go and collect Max first, and the small detour he took to feed the ducks at the boy's insistence meant that Jace, Izzy and Alec were already home by the time he got there. He called out a greeting as he came through the door, but all he got was a 'Hi Dad' from Izzy and Jace. It had been years since Alec had chosen to spoke with him for longer than was absolutely necessary. He knew it was his fault, that if he just spoke about Benedict or went to see him then Alec would open up to him again, but he just couldn't do it. He tried, at first. But the guilt was slowly driving him insane, and it was easier for him to live with it if he stayed away.

Benedict understood; Alec not so much.

He would've understood if he just explained what had happened, but he thought that the less the kids knew the safer they would be. At least, that's what he told himself. Deep down, he knew his reluctance stemmed more from the fact that he was a coward, that he felt that if he told his children the truth, he would lose them too. He couldn't live with that, so he just kept quiet.

"Hey Max", Robert spoke to the boy he was carrying, "do you want to go and play with your brothers and sister?"

"Alec", Max responded with a smile.

"Alright then", Robert replied as he climbed the stairs and made his way to his son's room. He knocked tentatively and waited through several minutes of silence before Alec's exasperated voice came through the door.

"Come in", Alec looked up when Robert opened the door, a small frown settling on his face. "What do you want Dad?" He kept most of the hostility out of his voice, but Robert thought that was more for Max's sake than his.

"Max said he wanted to come and hang out with you, but if you're busy I'm sure he'll be happy with Jace and Izzy."

"No, I have time", Alec smiled at his brother. The smile was immediately lost when he turned back to his father. "You can go now Dad".

Robert backed out of Alec's room without another word, retreating back to his own room to wait for Maryse to return home. He prayed none of the kids needed him for the next couple of hours; he wasn't sure how much longer he could pretend everything was okay for.

He didn't know how much time passed as he sat and stared at the wall opposite him, his mind fixed firmly on his brother. The small knock on the door jarred him out of his thoughts and he looked up in time to see Maryse walk through the door.

"Is everything okay Robert? Isabelle said you haven't been to see them since you dropped Max with Alec."

Robert opened his mouth to speak but no words came out, instead he just looked hopelessly at his wife, hoping she understood what he needed. Thankfully she did and she made her way gracefully over to the bed, sitting down next to him and pulling him into a hug. They sat like that for a few minutes, the tears he had stubbornly been keeping at bay finally breaking free and running down his face as Maryse ran her hand through his hair and tried to comfort him.

"Benedict's dead", Robert finally mumbled into her shoulder.

"What", Maryse asked as she pushed him away a little in order to look into his eyes.

"Two officers came to see me this afternoon. They found him in his cell this morning. We have to tell Alec, but I just couldn't do it by myself."

"I can do it, if you'd like", Maryse offered.

Robert gave her a small smile and kissed the back of her hand. "No dear, it's best if I do it. It's my fault this happened anyway".

"Robert –"

"It is Maryse", Robert interjected. "He would have been fine if I never got involved with Valentine. I made that decision and now Benedict is the one who suffered for it."

"He manipulated you Robert".

"I made a choice."

"You were fourteen", Maryse argued back strongly. "You were fourteen and you were lonely and he knew exactly what to say to get you to trust him, to do what he wanted you to do. He manipulated you. If someone did the same thing to Alec now, used whatever vulnerability they could find to get him to do what they wanted, you wouldn't blame Alec, I know you wouldn't. So it's time you started to learn to forgive yourself Robert. Yes, you made some choices; but they weren't always your own. You have to forgive yourself."

"I can't Maryse. My brother is dead; and all because I trusted a stranger I met in a park. We have to go and tell Alec", he added as it looked like Maryse was going to push the matter further.

They made their way to Alec's room, Maryse being the one to knock this time as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, waiting for Alec to open the door. All of a sudden, it opened forcefully, revealing Max's delighted laughter as the tower of bricks they built fell down. Alec must've seen something on their faces which indicated that they needed to talk as he turned back to Max and told him that Jace and Izzy would want to play too. It was Alec who spoke again when the door was shut.

"What is it?"

Robert looked to Maryse who gave a nod of encouragement and squeezed his hand in support. "Alec, we need to talk to you about something".

"I gathered that", came the clipped reply.

"It's ... a couple of officers came to see me today...Alec I'm so sorry, your Uncle died this morning".

"No", Alec immediately responded.

"Alec, I know this will hurt – "

"He can't be dead", Alec responded with a loud voice, his blue eyes wide. "I saw him yesterday, he was fine! He wasn't ill; he knows I was bringing him a new book. Was it someone in the prison? They hurt him sometimes you know".

 _It was me_ , Robert wanted to reply. "No Alec, it wasn't someone in the prison. They found him in his cell, and you know he doesn't share a cell with anyone".

Robert spoke gently, but he saw the impact of his words. He saw that he didn't have to say anymore; Alec was a smart boy, he'd figured out what Robert couldn't bring himself to say. Robert could pinpoint the exact moment Alec pieced it together; he could see it in the way he lost what little colour he had in his face, in the way tears gathered in his eyes and ran down his cheeks. In the way he looked at him with a hatred he had never seen in anyone's eyes before.

"This is your fault", Alec whispered.

"Alexander", Maryse exclaimed when she saw the way he husband flinched.

"He asked about you all the time, and you never went to see him. He loved you, and you turned your back on him."

"Honestly honey, it's not like that", Maryse tried to explain.

"I hate you", Alec spoke as if his mother hadn't said anything. His voice was eerily calm, there was no shouting, no screaming, just conviction. "I hate you", he whispered again as his tears ran faster and soon turned to sobs.

Robert saw Maryse look at him, conflict clear in her blue eyes as she looked to decide who she should comfort.

"Stay with Alec", he whispered in her ear. "He needs you more; I'll go put dinner on".

Tears ran down his face as he cooked. Life carried on around him as he quietly mourned; he knew Alec was crying upstairs, Maryse rocking him and shushing him gently. He could also hear Jace and Izzy laughing as they played with their brother. He would be strong for them, he promised himself as he wiped his cheeks.

No more tears.

He didn't have the right to cry.

* * *

24th August 2018

A weak "Dad", dragged Robert out of his memories, the unexpectedness of the voice making him turn his head to face the bed far too quickly, but Robert didn't care about the pain that shot through his neck in protest. All he could care about was the fact that Alec was awake, and he was asking for him.

"I'm right here, Alexander", Robert said as he made his way swiftly to his son's bedside. As he got close he could see the fear in his eyes, and in that second he was not a 38 year old man who had analysed his fair share of murders and assaults. He was his child, and he was hurt and scared. Robert watched as Alec went to lift a hand out to him.

"No Alec, stay still", Robert spoke gently as he placed a hand on Alec's arm to stop him moving.

"What happened?" Alec looked at him expectantly, a tear running down into his pillow as he did so.

"The Circle put a bomb under your car", Robert replied in a strained voice, wiping the tears away with his thumb. "We're very lucky you got off so lightly mister."

Alec squinted his eyes at him. "What do you know about The Circle?"

"Hush", Robert said after hearing his heart monitor pick up. "The doctor said you need to rest, so we won't talk about this now. We'll talk about this later."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise", Robert responded. "Now I best call the doctors in".

"Dad", Alec said grabbing his hand as he turned to walk away.

"Yes son?"

Robert watched as Alec averted his eyes and a blush built on his cheeks. "Can I have a hug before you go?"

"Of course", Robert replied, hugging him gently. "It's okay to be afraid you know; you've been so brave for so long. I'm proud of you."

Robert gave his son a small smile before leaving to find Dr Loss and tell her that Alec was awake. He phoned Maryse soon after Dr Loss told him that Alec was doing well, but that he had to be left to sleep. Alec would be okay, and who knows, maybe they'd be able to fix all that had gone wrong with their relationship.

* * *

 **A/N -** Thank you to all the guests who left comments on the last two chapters! I am so glad you're enjoying this. I don't want to give too much away but I think you'll like where we end up. Since Robert's name did pop up in the guesses I owe you a prize, so here's a quick look at what's happening in the next chapter:

He was just scanning his shelf for a light, entertaining novel when he noticed a scrap piece of paper that he had shoved in between two thick volumes. When he pulled it out, all it contained was a series of digits and it took Magnus a while to remember what they were for. " _My number"_ , the blonde had said, " _in case you ever need to reach Alec but can't get through_ ". Magnus couldn't believe he had forgotten about this, but he smiled to himself when he realised all was not lost. If he couldn't talk to Alec directly, he would just go the long way around.


End file.
